Test of the Armors
by Rogue Ronin
Summary: Throughout time, ever since the armors were first created, a test was given to the armor wearers. Now it's time for the Ronins and Kaye to see if they are proven worthy of keeping their armors. Completed
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Ok here it goes, I don't own any rights or characters of the Ronin Warriors. The only ones that are mine are Kaye and her tiger Lightning. So sit back, kick up your feet, get comfortable, and enjoy the reading. any thoughts email me cokeacola_75@hotmail.com   
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Test of the Armors  
chapter 1  
  
by: Rogue Ronin  
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"Lightning, why did you leave? Where did you go? Are you alright? What could have been so important to make you up and leave, just like that without any kind of explanation? These are the questions that have been running constantly in my mind ever since you've left. Wherever you are Lightning, please come home." said Kaye quietly as tears were slowly falling from her eyes. Unknown to Kaye, there was another person in the room listening to what she was saying.  
  
"Kaye, hey there you are. I've been looking for you." said Sage as he approached her.  
  
"Sage, ah hi you were looking for me, why?" asked Kaye as she quickly dried her tears.  
  
"You asked me to find you when it was time to go. Don't you remember?" asked Sage.  
  
"Yea, now I remember, thanks Sage. Well I guess we better get going huh." replied Kaye as she started to walk out of the livingroom.  
  
"Kaye I hope that you'll pull out of this soon, you're giving us all a scare, especially Kento." thought Sage as he watched her leave with concern in his eyes.  
  
"Hey Sage, are ya coming or what?" asked Kaye as she noticed that he was still in the livingroom.  
  
"Yea Kaye I'm coming." Sage replied as he caught up with her.  
  
"Kaye are you sure that you want to do this? I mean if you want to just sit back and watch, that's fine with us." said Sage as they entered the training room.  
  
"Sage what are you talking about? Yea, I'm sure, besides I always feel better after a training session, you know that, besides you guys will be one short for the sparring." replied Kaye with a small smile.  
  
"Yea I guess there's no way to talk you out of it is there." said Sage as he smiled back.  
  
"That's right, so now you guys are stuck with me. Do you think that you'll be able to deal with it?" asked Kaye as they finally made their way to the others.  
  
"It's about time, so when did the two of you decide to join us?" asked Ryo in mock annoyance.  
  
"Oh get off it Ryo and let's start training already." said Kaye as she began to laugh.  
  
"Now that's something that we haven't heard from you in a while." Kento teased.  
  
"Oh really Kento, what are you talking about?" asked Kaye with a glint of mischief in her eyes.  
  
"You know." replied Kento with a big grin.  
  
"Oh I see, you want me to admit that I know to which one you're referring." replied Kaye as she kept her eyes on him.  
  
"Have it your way, but know this Kaye our match is over, and I've already won." said Kento with a smirk.  
  
"We'll see about that Kento." replied Kaye as she got ready to repell his on coming attack. While Kaye and Kento were sparring, the others stopped theirs and watched the match that was going on between Kaye and Kento.  
  
"It looks like we have an audience Kento." said Kaye as she caught a glimpse of the others from the corner of her eye.  
  
"Then your defeat will be that much more enjoyable." replied Kento with another smirk.  
  
"Don't bet on it Kento." replied Kaye as she finally saw her chance.  
  
"This should be good." said Cye with a smile.  
  
"You know something that we don't Cye?" asked Rowen.  
  
"Just watch and you'll see, trust me you'll get a kick out of it." replied Cye with a big grin.  
  
"Hey Cye what's Mia doing over there with..." asked Sage.  
  
"Shh, Sage don't give away the surprise or it won't be any fun." replied Cye with a glint of mischief in his eyes.  
  
"Hey what are you guys whispering about over there?" asked Kento while he kept his eyes on Kaye.  
  
"Nothing Kento, hey you better pay attention to your opponent or you're going to lose the match." replied Ryo.  
  
"Hey guys who's winning so far Kaye or Kento?" asked Mia as she stayed in Kaye's sight.  
  
"You came just in time Mia, Kaye is going to lose." replied Kento with a smile.  
  
"Oh really!" asked Kaye with a mischievous grin. Kento seemed to be in somewhat of a surprise in the way Kaye said that. So he shook off that feeling of surprise and finally decided to attack Kaye. She saw Kento coming and got out of the way just in time. As Kaye was moving to the side, at the same time Mia threw a paper bag to Kaye. Just as Kento turned around he saw the bag that Kaye was now holding.   
  
"What are you up to Kaye?" asked Kento.  
  
"I told you Kento, but you didn't believe me. Now I'm going to make you eat your words, literally." said Kaye as she got ready to make her move. Kento wasn't sure what to make out of her statement, so he decided to stop stalling and finally advance towards her. Just as Kento was in midaction of his attack, Kaye dove her hand into the paper bag and pulled out a piece of cake that was left over from supper. He couldn't make himself stop, so this was the perfect opportunity for Kaye to trip him up. Kento started to fall to the ground, but just before he hit the mat, Kaye took the piece of cake and tossed it right in his face.  
  
"I think that the match is over. Kaye's the winner! I can't believe that you did that!" said Rowen as he was holding his side from laughing so hard.  
  
"Aw come on Rowen that was a cheap shot. Kaye you cheated and you know it." replied Kento as he was wiping the cake off of his face while getting up form the mat.   
  
"Sorry Kento, but I'm going to have to agree with Rowen on this one." replied Cye as he too was laughing.  
  
"Cye, you too? I don't believe it you were in on it?" asked Kento.  
  
"Come on Kento, you were the one who taught me that a martial artist has to be resourceful. Can you forgive me?" asked Kaye as she was giving him puppy-dog eyes.  
  
"I taught you to be resourceful, not to be underhanded. So yea I can forgive you, but only if you'll forgive me when I do this." said Kento with a glint of mischief in his eyes.  
  
"Forgive you, for what? Whoa!" said Kaye as she found herself laying with her back on the mat and Kento on top of her with a big grin.  
  
"I always give my opponents some kind of payback." replied Kento as he kept his hold on her. As they locked their gazes onto each other, the others knew the session was over for the day.  
  
"If the two of you are done with the match, then we should get ready to go to town like we planned." said Sage as he made them break eye contact and then helped each other up from the mat.  
  
"Sure thing Sage." replied Kaye as she and Kento blushed.  
  
"Hopefully Sage won't take forever in getting ready." said Mia with a smirk.  
  
"Hey, don't knock it. I have to look good for the ladies don't I." replied Sage with a smile.  
  
"Whatever Sage." replied Rowen as he and the others started to leave the training room with only Kaye and Kento alone.  
  
"Kento I'm really sorry about the cake in the face." said Kaye as she tried to help him clean off the rest of the cake.  
  
"I do have to admit it Kaye, that was a good one." replied Kento with a warm smile.  
  
"Thanks, now I'll admit something." said Kaye.  
  
"Oh really, and what's that?" asked Kento.  
  
"I admit that it felt really good to laugh again. Even with the fact that Lightning has disappeared without a trace." said Kaye quietly.  
  
"Kaye, we'll find him." replied Kento.  
  
"Thanks, I guess that I just needed to hear that." replied Kaye with a small smile.  
  
"Come on Kaye, you can give me a better smile than that, or I'll take the rest of this cake and return the favor." replied Kento.  
  
"You wouldn't." said Kaye.  
  
"Yea, I would." replied Kento with a grin.  
  
"Ok, ok you win." Kaye said as she began to laugh.  
  
"Now that's more like it. So what do yo say that we go upstairs and get ready for a night out on the town before the others come back here and drag us out." replied Kento as he started to leave the training room. Kaye shook her head and caught up with him. Just as they got close enough to the stairs, Kaye got an idea.  
  
""Hey Kento, what's that?" asked Kaye as she motioned over to the kitchen.  
  
"What do you mean what's that? Hey!" replied Kento as he noticed that Kaye ran past him and up the stairs to her room.  
  
"I won!" said Kaye through her door.  
  
"Who said we were in a race Kaye?" asked Kento as he was near his door.  
  
"If the two of you don't get a move on, then we're going to leave the both of you here." warned Ryo. About ten minutes later Kaye and Kento came downstairs ready to go.  
  
"Well it's about time." said Sage as they were leaving.  
  
"Sorry everybody, so what's up for tonight?" asked Kaye.  
  
"Since you two took so long, you're going to have to wait and see when we get there." replied Rowen.  
  
"Aw come on Rowen." said Kaye.  
  
"Don't waste your breath Kaye, he's not going to give. Besides I already know where we're going." replied Kento with a smirk.  
  
"You guys make it no fun, especially with that mental link that you all have with each other." said Kaye in annoyance.  
  
"You mean like the one between you and Lightning." teased Kento.  
  
"Kento!" exclaimed Ryo.  
  
"Oh man, Kaye I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." replied Kento.  
  
"Rowen stop the car." said Kaye quietly.  
  
"What? Kaye why do you want me to stop here? We're in the middle of nowhere." asked Rowen as he glanced at her in the rear view mirror.  
  
"Just do it Rowen, stop the car." said Kaye as she began to get angry.  
  
"I think that you better do it Rowen." said Sage. So he stopped the car, Kaye got out and started to walk in no general direction.  
  
"Kaye wait, where are you going?" yelled Mia. Kaye stopped and looked up at the sky.  
  
"Kento, now why did you have to go and say that for?" asked Cye.  
  
"Hey, I said that I was sorry." replied Kento.  
  
"Well guys now what? Who is going over there and talk to her?" asked Ryo as he looked over at Kento.  
  
"I'm already on it." replied Kento as he walked over to where Kaye was standing.  
  
"Lightning." whispered Kaye as she continued to look at the sky. Kento finally made it to where Kaye was standing. He got close enough to place his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Kaye, I didn't mean..." said Kento.  
  
"It's alright Kento, yoiu've apologized already, and I know that you didn't mean for it to come out the way it did." replied Kaye with a small smile as she turned her focus from the sky and onto Kento.  
  
"Are you sure?" asked Kento with concern.  
  
"Yea I am. Now look, we have two choices. We can one, stand here all night long and try to figure out how to change what happened. Or we could..." said Kaye with a glint of mischief in her eyes.  
  
"Or we could what? What's the second choice?" asked Kento now curious.  
  
"Or we could finally go to town and have some fun." replied Kaye with a grin.  
  
"Alright now you're talking!" said Kento as they walked back to the others.  
  
"Kaye is everything alright?" asked Cye.  
  
"Yea Cye everything is just fine. So what are we hanging around here for? Let's go and have some fun!" said Kaye with a grin. After that was said, everyone started to pile into the car and went to town. 


	2. chapter 2

Test of the Armors   
chapter 2  
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"Morning!" said Kaye cheerfully as she walked into the kitchen.  
  
"Morning Kaye, looks like someone had a good night's sleep." replied Mia with a smile.  
  
Yea I sure did and it's about time too. No weird dreams, no predictions, just a quiet night's sleep." said Kaye as she grabbed her jacket.  
  
"Where are you off to this morning?" asked Cye as he came into the kitchen.  
  
"I'm going for a walk. Do either of you want to come with me?" asked Kaye as she waited by the door.  
  
"Acutally Kaye yea I'll come with you." replied Mia as she grabbed her jacket and met with Kaye at the door.  
  
"Cye how about you?" asked Mia.  
  
"Sorry, I think that I'm going to pass, thanks though, but I think that someone should be here when the others wake up." replied Cye with a grin.  
  
"Alright Cye, we shouldn't be too long. See ya in a while." said Kaye as she and Mia left from the back door.  
  
Outside Mia and Kaye were walking around the backyard and enjoying the chilly autumn morning air. "Mia." said Kaye as they were walking towards the lake.  
  
"Yes Kaye?" asked Mia.  
  
"It's been a while since it was just you and me haning out together." said Kaye.  
  
"Yea you're right, so what did you want to talk about?" asked Mia.  
  
"I'm that transparent huh." replied Kaye with a smile.  
  
"Yea you are, but hey what are best friends for right." said Mia as she returned a smile.  
  
"Mia, when we were going through our training session yesterday. I felt something, I can't really explain it, but I'm also wondering if the guys did too?" said Kaye as she stopped and locked her gaze onto the lake.  
  
"Kaye why are you talking to me about this instead of the guys?" asked Mia as she looked at Kaye.  
  
"I didn't want the guys to worry about this, especially since it might not be anything." replied Kaye.  
  
"I'm sure that it is nothing, but maybe we should talk to the guys and see what they say." said Mia.  
  
"Yea you're probably right, well what are we waiting for?" asked Kaye as she took off towards the mansion.  
  
"Hey!" yelled Mia as she quickly took off after her.  
  
"Come on Mia, I'm going to win if you don't kick it up a notch." Kaye teased.  
  
"You wanna bet!" Mia said as she suddenly passed Kaye and was almost at the door.  
  
"How in the world?" thoguth Kaye as she finally made it to the door where Mia was waiting.  
  
"You were saying something about kicking it up a notch." said Mia mockingly.  
  
"Mia since when were you faster than me?" asked Kaye.  
  
"You really want to know?" asked Mia.  
  
"Yea." replied Kaye curiously.  
  
"Wouldn't you become faster if you were being chased by the dynasty?" asked Mia with a grin.  
  
"Good point, well since we're here let's see who's up." replied Kaye with a grin. As Mia and Kaye entered the mansion, they couldn't believe what they were seeing. All of the guys were sitting at the table, and they were actually acting civil.  
  
"Morning Mia, Kaye we were waiting for the two of you." said Sage with a smirk.  
  
"Ah Mia, are we in the right mansion?" asked Kaye.  
  
"Yea I believe so, this is the mansion, but I'm not too sure if these are the same guys." replied Mia with a smirk.  
  
"Very funny you two, now come and eat before Kento eats everything in sight." said Ryo. Mia and Kaye looked at each other and began to laugh.  
  
Then Kaye looked at Ryo with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Sir, yes sir!" said Kaye as she gave a mock military salute. This got everyone to laugh, they we're not laughing because of what Kaye did, but because of the reaction on Ryo's face.  
  
"Funny Kaye, just for that you can have kitchen duty today." said Ryo with a smirk.  
  
"Aw Ryo come on." said Kaye as she looked at him.  
  
"Don't worry about it Kaye, I'll help ya." said Kento with a smile.  
  
"Thanks Kento." replied Kaye as she returned a smile of her own. After breakfast was done, Kaye and Kento cleaned up the kitchen and joined the others in the livingroom.  
  
"Now this is more like it, peace and quiet." Rowen said as he laid back in his chair.  
  
"Yea I hear ya Rowen. No more dynasty soliders, no more warlords trying to get our armors, just peace and quiet." replied Cye as he stretched out on the couch.  
  
"Well you two may feel good with that, but I could definately use some action." said Kento as he sat down in his chair.  
  
"You know what they say Kento, be careful what you wish for you just might get it." Sage said as he glanced at him.  
  
"Yea, yea whatever you say Sage. All I'm saying is, if something does come our way they better watch out." replied Kento with a grin.  
  
"I'm going to have to agree with Kento on this one." said Ryo.  
  
"You do?" said Kento being a little surprised.  
  
"Yea, they better watch out, or you'll eat them out of house and home." replied Ryo with a big grin.  
  
"Hey! You better start running Ryo." warned Kento as he started to get out of his chair.   
  
"Try and catch me Kento." taunted Ryo.  
  
"You're asking for it." replied Kento as he took after Ryo. As everyone else was watching Kento chase Ryo all over, Kaye was trying to figure out what she felt yesterday.  
  
"That sensation felt so familiar. Could it have been Lightning? If it was him, then why didn't he show himself, or at least talked to me?" thought Kaye.  
  
"Kaye, hey Kaye watch out!" yelled Mia as she noticed that Ryo wasn't watching where he was going.  
  
"Ryo put on your breaks! Oh man this is going to hurt." said Kaye as she braced herself for the collision. Ryo collided with Kaye and they both landed on the floor.  
  
"Kaye are you alright?" asked Ryo as he began to get up.  
  
"Yea, I'm fine Ryo, honest just a little sore." replied Kaye with a small laugh as she started to get up.  
  
"Way to go Ryo." said Kento in annoyance.  
  
"Hey this wouldn't have happened if you started chasing me." replied Ryo.  
  
"No, it wouldn't have happened if you didn't make that crack about me eating them out of house and home." replied Kento.  
  
"Guys enough, what happened is what happened. It doesn't matter how it started. Besides part of it was my fault for not paying attention." said Kaye as she tried to calm them down.  
  
"Now that you mention it Kaye, what was on your mind to have your full attention?" asked Cye.  
  
"It's nothing to be concerned about Cye. So don't worry about it." replied Kaye.  
  
"Come on Kaye, either you tell them what we talked about this morning or I will." said Mia as she gave her a stern look.  
  
"Mia." replied Kaye as she glared at her.  
  
"Kaye what's Mia talking about?" asked Rowen.  
  
"Alright, fine I'll tell ya, but I don't think that you guys have to worry about it." replied Kaye.  
  
"We'll be the judges of that Kaye, now would you tell us what's going on?" asked Sage as he and everyone else sat down and gave her their full attention.  
  
"Ok here it goes, during our training session yesterday I felt some kind of presence. Except that I couldn't tell where it was coming from. It felt in a way familiar but at the same time different. That's the best way that I can explain it." explained Kaye.  
  
"Interesting." mused Rowen as he sat back in his chair thinking.  
  
"Interesting? Rowen is that all you have to say is interesting?" asked Kento.  
  
"I'm going to have to agree with Kento, Rowen. There might be a new threat and all you can say is interesting." replied Cye curiously.  
  
"All I'm saying is that this presence that Kaye felt might be somehow connected to Lightning's disappearance." explained Rowen.  
  
"Do you think that could be a possibility Kaye? Is Lightning trying to get in contact with you?" asked Ryo.  
  
"I'm not sure Ryo, if it's him, then why doesn't he give me some kind of sign instead of playing this game?" replied Kaye.  
  
"Kaye have you tried to contact Lightning telepathically? He might be in a close enough range." suggested Sage.  
  
"Not since a couple of nights ago. Why would you think that now would make any difference?" asked Kaye.  
  
"I'm not saying it will and I'm not saying it won't. All I'm saying is that you should try it now." replied Sage.  
  
"Fine Sage I'll do it, but I doubt I'll get a straight answer if I even do attempt this." said Kaye with a little annoyance.  
  
'Lightning, hey are you there? If you are giave me some kind of sign would ya?' asked Kaye telepathically. A few minutes went by and it seemed like nothing was going to happen. So Kaye opened her eyes and fell back into her chair.  
  
"Kaye are you alright?" asked Kento in concern.  
  
"Yea Kento I'm fine. What did I tell ya Sage, I got..." said Kaye as she suddenly vanished from her chair. 


	3. chapter 3

Test of the Armors  
  
chapter 3  
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"Kaye where are you!?" yelled Kento.  
  
"Calm down Kento, you freaking out won't be of any help in finding her, now will it." said Sage as he tried to calm him down.  
  
"Don't you think I know that?" asked Kento.  
  
"As soon as you get yourself calmed down, we'll go and look for her ok." replied Ryo.  
  
"How can you guys be so calm about this?" asked Kento.  
  
"Hey Kento we're just as worried as you." replied Cye.  
  
"Alright fine I'm calm, now how do you propose that we look for her?" asked Kento as he slammed his hands down onto the back of the chair that Kaye was sitting in.  
  
"Why don't we call our subarmors, maybe then we can find her." suggested Rowen.  
  
"Rowen you think that our armors have some type of connection with Kaye's?" asked Kento eagerly.  
  
"It's worth a shot." replied Rowen.  
  
"Alright then let's do it already, wht are we waiting around for?" asked Kento. The other guys nodded and quickly changed into their subarmors.  
  
"Ok now what?" asked Cye.  
  
"Just concentrate, clear your mind and focus." replied Sage as he closed his eyes. The others followed his lead, it didn't take long for their subarmors to glow their respective colors. While the guys were doing their thing, Kaye was trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
"Ok what the heck just happened? One minute I'm home sitting back in my chair, and the next minute I'm here." thought Kaye as she looked around.  
  
"Welcome young one, I'm glad that you've responed to my invitation." said the stranger.  
  
"Invitation? What are you talking about? Who are you, where am I, and another thing why am I here?" asked Kaye as she was getting annoyed.  
  
"You definately ask a lot of questions." said the stranger.  
  
"Yea people keep telling me that, now I really don't like to repeat myself. If you would answer my questions and get me back home, then I'll be glad to forget this has ever happened." replied Kaye as she crossed her arms across her chest.  
  
"I'm sorry but I can't answer all of your questions." said the stranger.  
  
"Can't or won't, if you don't answer my questions and get me back home, then you won't like the consequences." replied Kaye angrily.  
  
"I'm sorry that you feel that way young one. But I suppose that I could answer a few of your questions. There are a few of these questions that I'll reserve the answers for later. The question that I will answer about where you are I'll be glad to explain." said the stranger.  
  
"Well if you wouldn't mind, start explaining." replied Kaye.  
  
"This place is what you could call a nexus between realms. It can create whatever is inside of your mind and make it real." explained the stranger.  
  
"No way that could happen, the only possible way is if one was in..." realized Kaye.  
  
"Yes and no to what you were thinking. It is similar to the dream realm, but it's way more dangerous here. You could say that it's possibly deadly." replied the stranger.  
  
"You weren't planning on me leaving were you? What do you want from me?" asked Kaye angrily.  
  
"It's not you that I want, it's your kanji orb as well as the ones that belong to the Ronin Warriors." replied the stranger.  
  
"What are you talking about? What's a kanji orb?" asked Kaye as she hoped that the stranger would believe her.  
  
"Don't play dumb with me young one! I know that you and your friends all possess mystical armors. You will give it to me now or I'll find a way to make you hand it over. The choice is yours, but be quick about it." warned the stranger.  
  
"Oh man I can't just hand over my kanji orb just like that. I gotta figure out something and fast." thought Kaye as she glared at the stranger.  
  
"Well what is your decision?" asked the stranger.  
  
"Maybe I believe you and maybe I don't. How am I suppose to know what kind of powers you have if any?" asked Kaye as she was trying to buy some time.  
  
"Fine if you want a demonstration then you'll get one." replied the stranger coldly. Kaye got ready by taking a defensive position, waiting to see what this guy was going to throw at her. The stranger's eyes turned red, and then his whole body developed a red glow. He raised both of his hands in front of him and directed them right at Kaye. A red energy beam shot out directly towards her. Kaye tried to get out of the way, but she found out that she couldn't move. When Kaye looked up she saw the energy beam hit. Kaye started to scream from the intense pain. The stranger kept increasing his power, making the kanji of determination to flare brightly on her forehead and necklace, causing Kaye's subarmor to appear.  
  
"Something's wrong, were losing the connection!" yelled Sage as the ronin armors began to lose their glow.  
  
"No! Come on guys try harder!" Kento yelled back.  
  
"Guys, what's going on?" asked Mia.  
  
"We're not sure Mia, but whatever is inerferring with the link is very powerful." replied Ryo.  
  
"Guys!" said Mia as she noticed that their surroundings were changing all around them.  
  
"Mia as you can probably tell, this isn't the best time for interruptions. We are trying to find Kaye." replied Sage.  
  
"That's what I'm trying to tell you." replied Mia in annoyance.  
  
"Mia, are you telling us that you saw Kaye?" asked Kento with some hope while keeping his concentration.  
  
"Yea I saw a glimpse of her for a second and then she was gone." replied Mia.  
  
"How did she look to you Mia?" asked Rowen.  
  
"She looked like she was in pain as well as very ticked off." replied Mia as she watched the guys try to keep hold a little longer. When Mia told them what she saw, something inside of Kento snapped, and the kanji on his forehead and on his chain glowed brighter than the others. It seemed like a new kind of power has awakened in him.  
  
In the nexus the red beam that hit Kaye finally died, and revealed Kaye standing there in her subarmor. "Ok, note to self make this guy number one on my payback list." thought Kaye angrily as she glared at the stranger.  
  
"Are you satisfied young one with my small demonstration?" asked the stranger.  
  
"That was a small demonstration, man I definately don't want to see what you would call a big demonstration." replied Kaye angrily.  
  
"Then hand over your kanji orb or you and your friends will feel my full power." said the stranger.  
  
"There has to be a way out of here, but where?" thought Kaye as she quickly looked around her surroundings.  
  
"Don't bother looking for an exit, you won't find one." taunted the stranger.  
  
"You don't even try to count me out just yet." replied Kaye as she fell to one knee.  
  
"Good, you have a strong spirit, I'm sure that your armor does as well. Now I'm giving you one more chance to hand over your kanji orb." said the stranger.  
  
"Who are you? Answer me!" said Kaye as she was trying to buy some time for a plan to come into play.  
  
"Well I suppose that I could tell you my name. A lot of good it'll do you. I'm called Maji. Now that you know my name, it's time to hand over your kanji orb." replied Maji.  
  
"It looks like I have another choice that has just presented itself." replied Kaye with a smirk.  
  
"How can that be? I'm the only one that has real power in the nexus?" asked Maji in disbelief.  
  
"Well guess again Maji, I think that I just found my ride home." replied Kaye as she spotted a portal of some kind tha was being held open by each of the ronin's spirit from their armors. Kaye got up and started to run towards the opening. For some reason the portal began to slowly close.  
  
"Guys I see her, I see Kaye!" exclaimed Mia.  
  
"No you won't escape me! No!" yelled Maji as Kaye dove through the portal that quickly closed behind her. Kaye flew right past the guys and right into the couch. They broke their link and ran to where she was laying.  
  
"Kaye what happened, where were you? Are you alright?" asked Kento with concern.  
  
"Kento one question at a time ok." replied Kaye as she winced when she grabbed her side.  
  
"Kento back off and let me get over there. Mia we need the first aid kit stat." said Sage as he tried to get Kento out of the way.  
  
"I got it Sage, Kento move so Sage can heal Kaye alright." replied Mia as she made her way to the couch. Sage and Kaye began to glow green for a while, and then the glow faded away. Sage stepped back and let Mia try to bandage her ribs.  
  
"Kaye can you sit up?" asked Ryo.  
  
"Yea I think so." replied Kaye as she tried to sit up on the couch.  
  
"Now Kaye, are ya feeling up to answering a few questions?" asked Rowen.  
  
"I'll see what AH, I can answer. I guess Maji did one heck of a number on me." replied Kaye as she winced from getting up too fast. She saw the concern in their eyes and gave them a small smile.  
  
"Kaye are you sure that you feel up to it?" asked Cye.  
  
"Yea Cye go ahead, ask away." replied Kaye as she stabled herself on the couch.  
  
"Alright then Kaye, where did you disappear to?" asked Rowen.  
  
"A place called the nexus." replied Kaye.  
  
"What is this nexus?" asked Rowen.  
  
"According to Maji, that's the jerk that brought me there, he said that the nexus is something like the dream realm, but more fatal." replied Kaye.  
  
"What does this Maji guy want?" asked Ryo.  
  
"He said that he wanted my kanji orb." replied Kaye.  
  
"You still have it don't ya?" asked Kento.  
  
"Yea I still have it, you think that I'm crazy enough to just hand it over? Besides mine isn't the only one that he wants, he also wants all of yours as well." replied Kaye.  
  
"Why, what does he want them for?" asked Mia.  
  
"I don't know, he didn't give me any reason." replied Kaye.  
  
'I know why.' said a voice. 


	4. chapter 4

"No, it can't be." said Kaye quietly.  
  
"Kaye what do you mean it can't be? What are you talking about?" asked Mia.  
  
"I don't think that Kaye is referring to a what, but instead of a who." replied Rowen.  
  
"Ok Rowen, who is Kaye talking about then?" asked Kento.  
  
"Lightning." said Kaye as the tiger suddenly appeared in the middle of the livingroom. Forgetting for the moment about her injured ribs, she tried to get to where Lightning was standing. Before Kaye could even walk two steps, she started to fall forward. Luckily for her that Kento was close enough to catch her.  
  
"Kaye whoa there you're in no condition to be walking around. Especially after what that jerk Maji did to you." said Cye sternly. She nodded and sat back down on the couch.  
  
'Kaye what's Cye talking about? Maji attacked you?' asked Lightning.  
  
'Like you actually care what he did. You come here out of nowhere, acting surprised about him forcing me to transform into my subarmor. Wait a minute you know Maji don't you? Then what you said about you know why he wants our kanji orbs? It's true, I don't believe it! Lightning how could you keep this to yourself?' asked Kaye as she stared in shock at him.  
  
'Kaye try and understand.' said Lightning.  
  
'Try and understand what Lightning! Understand the fact that you kept this a secret. To understand that you left me with no explanation of where you were going, or even if you were going to come back?' asked Kaye as tears were threatening to fall.  
  
'I'm sorry Kaye, I couldn't tell you. They made me promise to never tell anyone who wears the Tiger Armor.' replied Lightning as he started to walk towards Kaye.  
  
"Not another step closer Lightning, I mean it!" said Kaye angrily.  
  
"Kaye what's going on? We thought that you would be more than happy to have Lightning come back?" asked Sage.  
  
"He knows why Maji wants the orbs." said Kaye as she glared at the tiger.  
  
"Isn't that a good thing?" asked Kento in confusion.  
  
"Unsually it would be, but not in this case." replied Kaye.  
  
"Kaye what are you talking about?" asked Cye. Kaye began to explain the conversation that she and Lightning just had. They were surprised to say the least.  
  
"But Kaye, Lightning didn't explain what Maji wants with your and the guys's orbs." said Mia.  
  
"Let's hear him out Kaye, alright." said Rowen.  
  
"Fine Rowen, but I know what's going to happen. When Lightning's done explaining, he'll stay for a little while and then he'll disappear without a word, just watch you'll see." replied Kaye as she motioned for Lightning to continue his explanation.  
  
Lightning nodded and continued with his story. 'You see Kaye everyone that wears the Tiger Armor, or any armor for that matter are to be tested to see if the one that is connected with it is worthy to keep their bond.' said Lightning.  
  
"Kaye what did he say?" asked Sage. She explained what Lightning told her, and they were just as confused as she was.  
  
"Ask him of it's the same test that we each took to gain our armors." said Rowen. Kaye asked Lightning Rowen's question. This time Lightning took a little longer to answer. It was like he was trying to figure it out himself. Finally he shook his head no, Rowen sat back in his chair thinking of what kind of test or tests that Maji has in store for them.  
  
"Finally Kaye had enough, and decided to go somewhere and think. She got up from the couch, and started to walk in the direction of the training room. "Kaye where do you think that you're going?" asked Ryo.  
  
"I need to think, so I'm going to the training room." replied Kaye with her back to them.  
  
"You're going to do no such thing Kaye. You're going to rest, in case you didn't notice you are not completely healed yet." said Kento as he made his way to her.  
  
Kaye shook her head and gave a little laugh. "Oh really Kento, and how do you plan to make me change my mind?" asked Kaye curiously.  
  
"You really want to know?" asked Kento with a mischievous grin.  
  
"Yea, I really want to know." replied Kaye in annoyance.  
  
"Ok, but you've asked for it." said Kento. Kaye turned around and looked at him with an expression that said go for it and see what will happen. Kento literally swept Kaye off of her feet, she gave a look of surprise to find out that one minute she was standing up and facing him, and the next minute she was being carried upstairs.  
  
"Kento, put me down. I can walk you know, my legs are not broken, I just have bruised ribs." said Kaye as she was trying to get out of his strong embrace.   
  
"Sorry Kaye, I don't think so. Besides, you wanted to know how I was going to stop you from going to the training room and well now you have your answer." replied Kento with a big grin. On the way up to Kaye's room, they could hear the loud laughter coming from the livingroom.   
  
"Kaye how did you like the trip?" yelled Cye as he continued laughing.  
  
"Ha, ha Cye very funny. Just wait until I get back down there, then you'll see what I think is funny." Kaye yelled back.  
  
"Easy there Kaye, don't start getting riled up now. Just concentrate on getting some rest and then later we'll talk." said Kento as he placed Kaye onto her bed.   
  
"Oh just you wait Kento, you'll get yours. Just you wait and see." replied Kaye as she looked straight into his eyes.  
  
"I think that this is payback for the trick that you played on me with the cake that you did last night." said Kento as he kissed her on top of her forehead.  
  
"Oh really, I thought that you already payed me back by that sweeping technique that you pulled off from last night?" asked Kaye with a mischievous smile.  
  
"Yea I do but now you fell for it twice. Consider us even, now go to sleep. You need your rest, someone will be up later to make sure that you are alright, now sleep." said Kento before closing the door behind him.  
  
"Maybe I'm being too hard on Lightning? No, he left without any explanation of any kind, and then poof he's back just like that! Maybe I, oh I don't know. What am I suppose to do, how does he expect me to handle what he just told us about these so called tests? I guess that I should get some sleep, then maybe everything will become easier to deal with." thought Kaye as she began to fall asleep.   
  
"Hey Kento, is Kaye finally sleeping?" asked Mia.  
  
"Yea, finally. So what do we do now, does anyone have an ideas?" asked Kento as he sat down on the couch.  
  
"Well let's see what we know so far. One, we have a major wacko trying to take our kaji orbs away from us for some kind of test that he has planned. Two, we have a mystical tiger that has been gone for a long time and suddenly shows up. Three, we have an injured Kaye that is upstairs supposedly sleeping. From all of this, one thing is a definate." said Rowen as he looked around the room.  
  
"Come on Rowen, don't leave us in suspense like this, what's the one thing that's a definate?" asked Ryo.  
  
"We definately know that we are in major trouble if we can't figure out what this Maji guy wants with our orbs." replied Rowen as he sat back and began to analyze the situation.   
  
"Mia, is there anything on your computer about this Maji character?" asked Sage.  
  
"I'm not sure, I could check. What are you guys going to do in the meantime?" asked Mia as she grabbed for her laptop.  
  
"Well we can't get any more answers out of Lightning because he only talks with Kaye. So I guess we're going to have to come up with some kind of plan with what information that we have at the moment." replied Sage.  
  
"Unfortunately it won't be much of a plan, but at least we'll have something to go on." said Ryo.  
  
"Yea I suppose, but Ryo what are we suppose to do? I mean how are we going to know how this guy is going to strike?" asked Cye as he looked over at Ryo.  
  
"How's this for an answer?" asked Maji as he appeared hovering in the air above the livingroom. The ronins took defensive positions, while White Blaze and Lightning stood around Mia.  
  
"Now won't you be good little ronins and hand over your kanji orbs?" taunted Maji as he looked the guys over.  
  
"How about we don't give them to ya, but we'll hand over your head for hurting Kaye like you did!" said Kento angrily.  
  
"I did notice that someone was missing from this little group. So where is she?" asked Maji as he began to look for her.  
  
"Oh yea right, like we're going to tell you." replied Cye in annoyance.  
  
"Alright if you're not going to tell me where she is, then I'll just tear this place apart piece by piece until I find her." said Maji as he began to glow red. Maji fired off an energy wave above the ronins' heads like a warning shot making everyone to cover their heads from the oncoming broken parts of the ceiling. The explosion made Kaye suddenly wake up and ran to the banister.   
  
"Hey what's with all of the noise? How is a person suppose to get any sleep around here? Oh man." said Kaye as she saw Maji in the livingroom.  
  
"Kaye watch out!" yelled Rowen as he saw Maji fly towards her.   
  
"Well hello young one, it seems that we meet again. What? Aren't you glad to see me?" asked Maji as he stopped right in front of her.  
  
"Sorry, but no I'm not glad to see you. Especially with what you did to me the first time that we met." replied Kaye angrily.  
  
"That's too bad, but I guess that I should expect for you to respond that way. Enough of the pleasentries, and let's get back to business shall we." said Maji as he looked coldly at her.  
  
"Hey back off pal if you know what's good for you!" warned Sage.   
  
"What are you going to do if I don't, how you say back off?" taunted Maji as he turned around and looked at the guys.  
  
"This! Alright guys armor up!" yelled Ryo as he and the others transformed into their armors.  
  
"Guys don't!" Kaye yelled as she watched Maji begin his attack on them.  
  
"How can Maji be here? He's suppose to be in the nexus, unless. No I have to lead him away from here before it's too late." thought Lightning as he looked towards him.  
  
'Kaye, listen to me we don't have much time. I'm sorry for what I did, I hope that you can in time forgive me.' said Lightning as he started get ready to attack Maji.  
  
'Lightning!' replied Kaye as he went full out and attacked Maji driving him outside. 


	5. chapter 5

'Lightning what do you think that you are doing? Do you honestly believe that you alone can stop me?' asked Maji.  
  
'Maji, you of all people should know that this isn't the way that it should be done. So why are you forcing them to hand over their kanji orbs, unless?' asked Lightning as he kept his eyes on him.  
  
'Yes you are right Lightning. The time is closer than you possibly realize.' replied Maji.  
  
'But why, why now of all times? They are not ready for this.' said Lightning.  
  
'You and I have witnessed what they can do when they have to, but how can you have so little faith in them?' asked Maji.  
  
'It's not that I don't have faith, it's just that this is bigger than any of them has ever faced.' replied Lightning as he noticed that Kaye and the others were now outside watching them for some kind of opening.  
  
'It looks like our time is up, I'll see all of you again real soon, count on it.' said Maji as he disappeared from the yard.  
  
"Ok, now would someone explain what just happened here?" asked Sage as he and the others looked around confused.  
  
"I can take a guess, Lightning knew what Maji was going to do so he decided to go after him and try to reason with him alone, but if that didn't work then he would have had to fight him instead." replied Rowen.  
  
"I guess that sounds reasonable Rowen, it's as good of an explanation that we're going to get for the time being." said Mia as she looked at him.  
  
"Well there's one way to find out, hey Kaye think that you could asked Lightning what that was all about?" asked Cye as he glanced at her.  
  
"Huh, ah sure Cye, no problem." replied Kaye as she walked over to Lightning.  
  
'Kaye, I'm sorry will you be able to forgive me for keeping this from you?' asked Lightning.  
  
'You've aplogized once already, and I've realized something while I was resting. I realized that you hid this from us for a very important reason. You thought that it wasn't the right time to tell us until all of the other weird things that we've been through were behind us. So I'm not angry any more, I'm just glad that you're back.' replied Kaye with a small smile.  
  
'Kaye there's something that I have to tell you. It's really important for you and the others to know.' said Lightning.  
  
'What is it? I have a feeling that what you're going to tell me, I'm not going to like it am I?' asked Kaye in concern.  
  
'No you're not, but it is very important for you and the others to know, before this testing with Maji really begins.' replied Lightning.  
  
'You mean to tell me that the first time that we've met up with him wasn't the start of his stupid tests?' asked Kaye now starting to get angry.  
  
'Unfortunately yes that's exactly what I'm saying. Now if we would all go inside I'll fill you in on the details.' replied Lightning as he headed back towards the mansion.   
  
"Kaye what was all of that about?" asked Ryo as he and the others looked at her for an explanation. Kaye began to fill the others in on the conversation that occured between her and Lightning. They seemed just as curious as she was to find out what the tiger meant. So they walked back to the mansion and into the livingroom where Lightning was waiting for them.   
  
'Kaye I think that you better tell them to take a seat. They're not going to take the news very well when they hear what I have to say.' said Lightning.  
  
"Mia, guys Lightning wants us to take a seat." said Kaye as she looked at them.  
  
"Why does he want us to do that Kaye?" asked Kento.  
  
"He said that we're not going to exactly like what he has to say." replied Kaye as she took a seat on the couch. Kento sat down next to Kaye, and Cye was on the other side. Mia sat at her desk, Ryo took the floor next to White Blaze. While Sage and Rowen each took a chair.   
  
'Now as you know, Maji...' said Lightning as he began to start his explanation.  
  
'Sorry to interrupt Lightning, but I think in order to save time from you telling me and then from me to them why don't you link with the guys and Mia as well.' suggested Kaye.   
  
"Hey guys, Mia I've asked Lightning to link with you like the one that he and I share. That way it'll cut down on the explanation time." said Kaye.  
  
"Are you serious, he can actually do that? How long will this link last?" asked Cye as he looked at her.  
  
"Well I'll put it this way, once Lightning has made the mental link it's there just as long as you want it." replied Kaye.  
  
"But what if the connection is broken, then can we get connected again?" asked Sage.  
  
"I believe so." replied Kaye.  
  
"That's good enough for me. Well then Let's get this going, I want to find out about this guy Maji, and what kind of tests the rest of you are suppose to be going through." said Mia as she showed that she was ready. Kaye nodded and looked over at Lightning, he shook his head and began to open the telepathic link to the others.  
  
'As you know the legend behind the ronin armors, well this story takes place about the same time as when they were created. You see, after the Ancient separated Talpa's armor into the nine armors, he went on a quest to find out if there were more.' explained Lightning.  
  
'Whoa, wait a minute, you're telling us that even back then there were more than just the nine armors?' asked Kento in confusion.  
  
'Yes that is correct.' replied Lightning.  
  
'Then how could this information have been hidden from my grandfather's journals?' asked Mia.  
  
'Most of the information was lost over time, and what information that you and your grandfather collected during your research, was more than enough to help you destroy Talpa.' replied Lightning.  
  
'That maybe true Lightning, but what does this have to do with what you're telling us about Maji and his so called tests?' asked Kaye.  
  
'Unfortunately Kaye, the information that you have about the Dynasty, was only a stepping stone to help you prepare yourselves for what all of you are about to face.' replied Lightning.  
  
'You mean to tell us that everything that we went through, was for nothing?!' asked Ryo angrily.  
  
'Lightning, is what Ryo said true? Is what they went through with the Dynasty for nothing?' asked Kaye.  
  
'No Kaye it wasn't for nothing. What they went through, like I said before was to prepare them for what is about to come. You see, everything that you know, felt, experienced, and learned will be able to help you. But if you don't believe in what I just told you, then none of you will survive the outcome.' replied Lightning sternly.  
  
'Lightning, for the risk of asking, what do you mean by won't survive the outcome?' asked Sage.  
  
'If the people that are being tested fail, then they could lose more than their armor.' replied Lightning.  
  
'Has anyone failed?' asked Kaye trying not to show any fear.  
  
'Most of the people that wore the armors before you have passed, but yes Kaye to answer your question, yes some of them have failed.' replied Lightning sadly.  
  
'Lightning what happened to the ones that failed? Please, we have to know.' said Mia.  
  
'I'm sorry Mia, but I can't tell you.' replied Lightning as he began to leave.  
  
'Hey where are you going? You can't just come back, drop this information in our laps and then just leave.' said Rowen as he got up from his chair.  
  
'I'm sorry, but I can't help you any more. I have to leave, my role in this is something that I don't want to do, but it's my duty and I'm honor bound to fufill it.' replied Lightning as he began to leave again.  
  
'Lightning wait! What is your role in this so called test?' asked Kaye as she suddenly got up from the couch.  
  
'I have to be the other one to see if you and the others are worthy of keeping your armors. I'm sorry, but I've already said too much. Goodbye and good luck, you'll need it.' replied Lightning as he disappeared from the livingroom. Everyone stared at each other in a mixture of complete shock and confusion. No one could believe what they just heard, it was like they were waking up from a bad dream.  
  
"Well what do we do now? We can't exactly sit around and wait to see what happens next?" asked Cye.  
  
"I know Cye, but for now that's all we can do." replied Ryo as he stood up from the floor.   
  
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not just going to sit around and wait." said Kento as he began to get a little angry.  
  
"Oh really Kento, and what do you plan to do?" asked Sage as he glared at Kento.  
  
"I'm going to go and find this Maji guy and take him out thats what!" Kento yelled back.  
  
"Really Kento, is that what you think, and what happens if you go out and try to take him out and it turns out that he's too much for ya, then what!" Sage said now getting a little angry.  
  
"Guys stop it! That's enough, no more fighting! Please, we need to figure this out, because if we don't..." said Kaye as she tried to stop them from continuing their arguement.   
  
"Kaye, come on now, we'll make it. We've been through a lot of close calls, and we'll get through this too." said Kento as he began to walk towards her.  
  
"Yea I know, it's just that well why, why now of all times does this have to happen? As a matter of fact, why does it have to happen at all?" asked Kaye as she began to show her frustrations.   
  
"Kaye..." said Kento as he tried to comfort her. Kaye buried her head into Kento's chest and closed her eyes. Kento looked up and started to look around to the others.   
  
"Kento, I'm sorry I didn't mean to go off on you like that, it's just..." said Sage.  
  
"Hey man it's ok, no damage done. We're just on edge that's all." replied Kento with a small smile.   
  
"I don't believe it with my own eyes, Kento is actually being the peacekeeper, I thought that was my job?" asked Cye with a glint of mischief in his eyes.  
  
"Hey!" replied Kento with a grin. Kaye began to slowly pull her head away from Kento's chest and opening her eyes. She looked up at Kento's face and gave a small grin showing that she was feeling a little better.  
  
"Now that's better, I was wondering if I would have to return that particular favor that you did to me when we were sparring." said Kento with a grin.  
  
"I'm glad that you didn't becaue that was the last piece of cake." replied Kaye with a grin.  
  
"What! No way! Aw come on Kaye tell me that you're kidding!" said Kento in alarm.  
  
"Sorry Kento she's not kidding that was definately the last piece of the cake." replied Mia as she started to laugh.  
  
"Kaye, you better start running if ya know what's good for ya. I'll even give ya a head start." warned Kento.  
  
"Oh yea, who says I'll need a head start mister?" asked Kaye with a smirk.  
  
"Oh no, there is going to be no running inside, especially with what happened earlier. Do I make myself clear?" asked Mia in a mock motherly tone. Kaye and Kento looked at each other and then looked at Mia and nodded.  
  
"Good now that's settled, does anyone have any ideas of what our next move should be?" asked Cye as he looked around at the others for their suggestions.  
  
"I suggest that we forget about it tonight and get a good night's sleep. Besides I have a feeling that we're going to need all of the rest that we can get." said Ryo as he saw that everyone agreed with his idea. So then everyone said their good nights and turned in for the night. 


	6. chapter 6

Kaye was having trouble sleeping, she was thinking about what Kento was talking about with her before they turned in for the night. "Kento, I'm scared. I don't know what's going to happen. Why couldn't I see this coming in my dreams? What if...?" asked Kaye as she tried to stop herself from shaking.  
  
"Kaye, we're all scared, no one knows what will happen, but you have to know that all of us will pull through. You just have to believe in that ok. Maybe you were not suppose to see this coming." replied Kento as he took her into his embrace.  
  
"I'm a dream walker Kento, I'm suppose to sense these things coming." said Kaye as tears began to slowly fall from her eyes.  
  
"Hey just because you're a dream walker, dosen't mean that you have to put this extra pressure on yourself. So don't go and start blaming yourself if things start to get a little intense, alright. Now dry your tears and get some sleep, I mean it." replied Kento as he gave her a smile.  
  
"Ok, ok Kento I'll get some sleep, I promise." said Kaye as she smiled back. Kento let go of Kaye and let her walk into her room. Then Kento started to go towards his room, Kaye started to say something.  
  
"Kento." said Kaye.   
  
"Yea." replied Kento as he turned around and looked at her.  
  
"I just wanted to let you know that I love you so much, more than you'll ever know. I just wish that there was some way that I could tell ya how much." said Kaye as she started to blush.  
  
"I love you too Kaye, good night." replied Kento as he gave her a wink.   
  
"Maybe he's right, yea everything will work out." thought Kaye as she finally fell asleep. Not to far away Maji was watching the whole thing from where Lightning was explaining the reason behind the tests, to Kaye and Kento having their private discussion.   
  
"Hum very intersting, they all have a strong bond with each other like some kind of family. But it looks like the one that has the Hardrock armor and the Tiger armor feel a lot more than that. This will play well in the tests, it will play well indeed." mused Maji with an evil grin. Just then Lightning appeared in the nexus and started to walk towards Maji.  
  
'Hello Lightning, it's so good of you to finally join me. That was one heck of a risk that you took in explaining the tests of the armors.' said Maji as he looked at Lightning.  
  
'They did have a right to know Maji. You know as well as I do that the wearers of the armors have to be tested to see if they are worthy of keeping them.' replied Lightning.  
  
'Yes I know, but don't you think that you told a little too much?' asked Maji.  
  
'Maybe I have, but now they know what to sort of expect what might happen, unlike the ones that wore the armors before them.' replied Lightning as he glared at Maji.  
  
'I think that you have a soft spot for the dream walker. Just because she freed you from your prison, don't think that you can protect her and the others from the tests.' said Maji as he began to walk towards the portal that looked into the Koji mansion.   
  
'What are you talking about?' asked Lightning as he walked over to where Maji was standing.  
  
'Oh come now, do you really think that I'm that stupid? I know everything that went on from when I left to when you arrived.' replied Maji as he showed Lightning what he was talking about.   
  
'You were spying on us the whole time?' asked Lightning as he began to get angry.  
  
'I was watching more than you informing them on what lies ahead, why don't you see for yourself and see what I mean.' said Maji as he made the images on the portal play like a movie projector. Lightning saw everything that went on from the time he left until Kaye and Kento said their good nights.   
  
'I knew that you were low Maji, but I never thought that you would do something as low as this.' said Lightning angrily.  
  
'Don't the two of them make such a good couple? I wonder what would they do if something unforseen would happen to one of them? How would they react? Why don't we find out?' taunted Maji as he started to glow red.  
  
'Maji, you wouldn't! Don't you even try of doing anything to any of them! Do you understand me?' warned Lightning angrily.  
  
'Me? Why I wouldn't dream of it.' replied Maji in mock surprise.  
  
'Good, now see that you don't! Because you know what will happen if you attack them one more time before the tests actually begin.' warned Lightning as he began to leave the nexus.  
  
"Stupid tiger, who does he think that he is anyway? Just because he is one of the elders that gets to see if they keep their armors. Well we'll see about that, but for now I think that it's time for me to get some rest as well. I wouldn't want them to think that I wasn't prepared for this. I've waited too long to blow this now. I'll get what I want, I always get what I want and I don't care how I get it." thought Maji as he began to laugh.  
  
The next morning, "hey Kento where are ya going?" asked Rowen as he noticed that Kento was getting his jacket and heading for the door.  
  
"I'm just going to go for a walk in the back. I shouldn't be gone long, anyone want to come with me?" asked Kento as he looked at them. The others shook their heads no, showing that they decline from his invitaion. So he left and started out on his walk, meanwhile upstairs Kaye was finally getting up out of bed.  
  
"Hum I wonder where he's going?" thought Kaye as she looked outside of her window seeing that Kento was outside. Kaye shrugged and then decided to get ready. It didn't take long for her to change and head downstairs where the others were quietly talking around the kitchen table.  
  
"Morning." said Kaye as she walked by the table.  
  
"Well look who decided to finally wake up." replied Rowen sarcastically.  
  
"Ha, ha very funny Rowen. I'm surprised to see you up this early. Hey what's Kento doing in the backyard?" asked Kaye as she looked at the guys and Mia.  
  
"He's just taking a walk, he said that he'll be back shortly. Hey, may I ask where are you going?" asked Cye as he noticed that she was getting her jacket and heading for the door.  
  
"I'm going to go out and see if he wants company." replied Kaye with a wink as she went out the door.  
  
Outside, "hey Kento wait up!" yelled Kaye as she ran to catch up with him.  
  
"Morning Kaye." replied Kento as he waited for her.  
  
"What's on your mind Kento?" asked Kaye as the two began their walk together.  
  
"What makes you think that something is on my mind?" asked Kento.  
  
"Since when do you go for walks in the backyard?" Kaye asked back.   
  
"I guess you got me. Yea something is on my mind, I guess that I just needed some time to myself to try and get my thoughts together." replied Kento with a small smile.  
  
"Oh I see, well if ya want me to go, then just say the word and I'll leave ya alone." said Kaye nervously.  
  
"No, actually I was hoping that you would stay with me, that is if ya want to." replied Kento teasingly.  
  
"Kento, of course I want to stay with you. What possessed you to ask a question like that?" asked Kaye.  
  
"I could of said the same thing about the one that you asked about being alone." replied Kento with a grin.  
  
"Ok, ok, you win Kento." said Kaye with a grin.   
  
"Kaye there is something that I've been wanting to talk with you about." said Kento as he stopped in front of the lake.  
  
"Oh, and what's that?" asked Kaye as she stopped and looked at him in confusion.  
  
"Yes Hardrock, what did you want to ask your lovely friend? Go on and ask her, I'm sure that we both would like to know." said Maji as he appeared hovering over the lake.  
  
"You have a lot of nerve pal, why don't you just go back to wherever you came from and never come back." replied Kento angrily.  
  
"Sorry but I can't do that Hardrock, the time for the tests has now officially begun. Now I would suggest that you and your lovely friend hand over your kanji orbs, or else." warned Maji as he glared at them.  
  
"Kaye, go to the mansion and get the others. I'll hold him off." said Kento as he kept his eyes on Maji.  
  
"Kento I can't just leave you here with him!" replied Kaye as she began to get a little angry.  
  
"Kaye don't argue with me, just do it! Go!" replied Kento as he pushed her in the direction of the mansion.   
  
"Kento be careful!" yelled Kaye as she looked back while running to the mansion.   
  
"Now it's just you and me Maji. There's no way that I'm going to let you get my or the others orbs, so you can just forget it." replied Kento as he quickly tranformed into his full armor.  
  
"Fool, I gave you the easy way out, but you decided to do it the hard way. So be it, but know this Hardrock I always get what I want." warned Maji as he got ready to fight Kento.  
  
Inside, "Guys, hurry Kento needs help. Outside, he's fighting Maji. We have to help him." said Kaye as she was trying to catch her breath.  
  
"Kaye calm down!" said Sage.  
  
"Calm down! All that you can say Sage is calm down? Kento is out there fighting Maji, and all you can tell me is to calm down?!" asked Kaye in alarm.  
  
"Sage wait, Kaye's right Kento is fighting Maji and it looks like he is going to need some backup, and fast." replied Cye as he started to run out the door. The others quickly ran outside seeing that Kento was about to deliver his sure-kill.  
  
"Alright pal you asked for it! Iron Rock Crusher!" yelled Kento as he launched his sure-kill. Maji deflected Kento's attack with ease, and then gave Kento an evil smirk.  
  
"That's all you can do Hardrock? I'm surprised at you, I thought that someone with your power could do better." taunted Maji as he got ready to deliver an attack.  
  
"Kento watch out!" yelled Kaye as she watched Maji deliver a different attack at him.   
  
"What! Ahhh!" yelled Kento as Maji's attack hit it's target. The black energy ball encompassed Kento totally inside.   
  
"No! Kento!" yelled Kaye as she ran to him.   
  
"Kaye wait!" said Rowen as he tried to grab her arm. Kaye was too quick for him so they took off after her.   
  
"Stay back!" yelled Kento as he noticed that Kaye and the others were getting closer.   
  
"I think that it would be wise for all of you to listen to the man. Otherwise you'll go through the same thing." warned Maji as he made the energy ball become even smaller.  
  
"Let him go! Or I'll..." warned Kaye as she glared at Maji.  
  
"Or you'll what! You can't do anything to help him now. So I would suggest that all of you back off if you know what's good for you." replied Maji as he returned her glare.  
  
"Why isn't he trying to collect all of the kanji orbs at once instead of one at a time?" asked Mia in confusion.  
  
"That's a good question my dear. I thought that it would be more fun this way. Watching them try to keep their orbs from me is rather amusing. I didn't realize that I might get this kind of resistance, but then again this fool is the first of my victims. I can't wait to see how the rest of you will do against me." Maji answered.   
  
"Kento." whispered Kaye as she noticed that he wasn't moving.   
  
"It looks like Hardrock didn't put up much of a fight now did he. Well his kanji orb is now mine. I would suggest that the rest of you hand them over or I'll do the same to you as I did to him." replied Maji as Kento's kanji orb floated over to Maji's open hand.  
  
"You monster! Give that back right now!" yelled Ryo as he and the others got ready to attack Maji.  
  
"I wouldn't advise trying to attack me right at the moment, you do have your friend's life to consider. Besides I didn't leave him completely helpless, I did let him have his sub-armor. Now that I have his orb, getting the rest of yours will be easy." replied Maji as he disappeared.  
  
"Kento, oh God, Kento! Wake up, please wake up!" whispered Kaye as tears ran down her cheeks.   
  
"Ah, Kaye where are you?" asked Kento weakly.  
  
"Kento, I'm right here don't move. You're going to be alright, why did you make me go Kento? I could have backed you up. We could have taken him together." Kaye said quietly.  
  
"Sage." said Ryo as he motioned over to where Kento was laying.  
  
"I'm already on it Ryo. Rowen get Kaye away from Kento, I can't heal him if she's there." said Sage as he got ready to heal him. Rowen nodded and pulled Kaye away from Kento. Kaye was thrashing around trying to make him let go, but he wouldn't loosen his grip.  
  
"Rowen let go! Kento needs me, now let go!" said Kaye histerically.  
  
"Kaye stop it! You're not going to help Kento by acting this way, now let Sage heal him and then we'll get him back inside to rest." replied Rowen as he tried to calm her.  
  
"Rowen, you don't understand, he needs me, he needs me." said Kaye as she finally stopped thrashing and started to cry freely.  
  
"It's going to be alright Kaye, look Sage is done and Kento is looking a lot better than he did before, see." replied Rowen.  
  
"Guys, I'm going to need some help getting Kento upstairs and into bed." said Sage as he began to lift Kento off of the ground. Ryo walked over to where Sage and Kento were and gave a hand. They all walked back inside of the mansion, Kento was in his room and Kaye was right there beside him. A few minutes later Rowen walked into the room to check on Kento. Kaye looked from Kento to Rowen, her eyes searching his for some kind of explanation of why this had to happen.  
  
"Rowen, I'm sorry for what I said outside, I mean about you not understanding. I didn't mean it the way that it came out. I was..." said Kaye as tears were starting to flow again.  
  
"It's alright Kaye, I know that you didn't mean it. Kento will pull out of this, you'll see he's too stubborn not to, besides there's something here that he wouldn't want to ever leave behind." replied Rowen as he looked at her.  
  
"Oh yea and what's that?" asked Kaye quietly.  
  
"You." replied Kento weakly. 


	7. chapter 7

Rowen ran from Kento's room and to the banister, "hey everybody Kento's awake!" yelled Rowen and then heading back into the room.   
  
"Kento how are ya feeling?" asked Kaye in concern.  
  
"To be honest Kaye, I've felt better." replied Kento as he tried to sit up.  
  
"Oh no you don't Kento of Hardrock, you are going to lay down and rest. Don't even think about trying to get out of bed." said Kaye sternly as she pushed him down.  
  
"Aw come on Kaye, I feel fine, see." said Kento as he tried to get up again. This time when he was getting up, Kento grabbed for his sides and winced.  
  
"You better listen to the lady Kento." replied Rowen with a smirk.  
  
"I'm guessing that this is payback for when I carried you upstairs yesterday." said Kento with a smirk as he laid back down.  
  
"Yep you're right, and here's your prize." replied Kaye as she went down and kissed him.   
  
"Well it looks like you two don't waste any time now do ya." said Sage as he and the others were now standing in the room watching them. Kaye quickly pulled away from the kiss, and both of them were blushing in a major way.  
  
"Come on you two, get over it already. We all know that you two are going out." said Ryo with a teasing grin.  
  
"Hey Cye." said Kento.  
  
"Yea." replied Cye.  
  
"Is there any food ready, I'm starving?" asked Kento with a mischievous grin.   
  
"Yea Kento is definately back to normal. Sure thing Kento I'll go down and get ya some. I'll be right back." replied Cye as he left for the kitchen.   
  
"Well Kento, now that we know you're ok, we're going to let you rest up, and then when you're up to it we'll try and figure out how to get your orb back." said Ryo as he and the others left leaving only Kaye and Kento in the room.  
  
"I wonder if Kento still wants to talk to me about something before Maji attacked?" thought Kaye as she was looking off into nowhere.  
  
"Kaye, hey Kaye are ya in there?" asked Kento.  
  
"Huh, oh sorry Kento did ya say something?" asked Kaye as she blushed.  
  
"I asked ya what were you thinking about." replied Kento as he began to sit back up again.  
  
"It's nothing, Kento I thought that I told you to lay down?" asked Kaye as she tried to make him lay back down.   
  
"You did, but there's something that I need ya to help me with." replied Kento.  
  
"Oh yea, and what's that?" asked Kaye in curiosity.  
  
"They wrapped the bandages too tight, I was wondering if ya would help me loosen them up a little." replied Kento with a mischievous glint in his eyes.   
  
"Alright, let me see. Where Kento, the bandages seem fine to me. Kento!" said Kaye as he quickly pulled Kaye into bed right next to him.  
  
"Now that's more like it, I feel better already." said Kento with a grin.  
  
"Kento Rei Faun, you little sneak. What about your injuries?" asked Kaye in concern.  
  
"My injuries are just fine, thanks to Sage and my sub-armor. But you could do me this one favor to make me feel even better." replied Kento with another grin.  
  
"Oh really, and what per chance would that be?" asked Kaye with a small smile.  
  
"I was hoping that you would do this in return." said Kento as he gave her a deep, warm kiss. Kaye slowly pulled back and gave him a mischievous smile.  
  
"Well I don't know if I can top that, but I'll see what I can do." replied Kaye as she returned the favor.   
  
"I hope that I'm not intruding." said Cye with a mischievous grin as he stood there in the doorway watching them while he was holding a tray full of food. Kaye and Kento were both startled by Cye's presence that while trying to get up, Kaye hit her head on a shelf that was hanging above Kento's bed.  
  
Kento was trying not to laugh while Kaye was rubbing her head. "Kaye are you alright?" asked Cye as he put the tray down on the dresser.  
  
"Yea Cye I'm fine, no thanks to mr. sensitive here." replied Kaye as she got out of Kento's bed and sat down on the chair holding her head.  
  
"Hey I'm the one that has the injured ribs here." said Kento as he gave his famous puppy-dog look.  
  
"It didn't look like you were too injured to me from where I was standing." replied Cye with a smirk.  
  
"Remind me to have a talk with the others about their timing ok." said Kento with a grin.  
  
"Yea no kidding, ow." replied Kaye with a small smile as she rubbed her head.  
  
"Are you sure that you're ok? Maybe you should be the one laying down. What do you think Cye?" asked Kento now in concern.  
  
"Yea I'm fine, just a small bump, and what's with the concern about me laying down? This from the man that has injured ribs." replied Kaye with a smirk.  
  
"Well whose going to look after me if you're injured?" asked Kento with a smirk.  
  
"I guess Cye or the others would." replied Kaye with a smile.  
  
"True, but I can't kiss them like I do to you now can I?" asked Kento with a grin.  
  
"No I suppose not, but tell me this Kento, what am I going to do with you?" asked Kaye with a grin as well.  
  
"Ok you two, that's enough. This is getting too sweet, even for me, I think that I might be getting sick." teased Cye.  
  
"Sorry Cye." said Kaye with a smile.  
  
"Yea man sorry about that, now how about that food!" replied Kento with a grin.  
  
"It's official, Kento is definately back to normal. Ok I'm going to let you eat and then you better get some sleep." said Cye as he gave Kento the tray.  
  
"Thanks Cye, man am I hungry!" said Kento as he began to eat. Cye gently grabbed Kaye's arm and pulled her out into the hallway.   
  
"Cye, what's wrong?" asked Kaye in concern.  
  
"That is what I should be asking you." replied Cye.  
  
"What do you mean by asking me?" asked Kaye now confused.  
  
"Come on Kaye, you can stop acting like everything is ok and tell me what's on your mind." replied Cye sternly.  
  
"You can guess what's on my mind Cye, you don't need me to tell you." replied Kaye quietly.  
  
"It's Kento, am I right?" asked Cye.  
  
"Yea you're right, Cye I was so scared in losing him. He's my strenght, I'm not as strong as he thinks I am." replied Kaye as tears began to form.  
  
"Kaye you're wrong, you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. So don't ever doubt yourself on that, trust me there's more than one way to be strong." said Cye as he laid his hands on her shoulders.  
  
"I was told a long time ago, that a very dangerous warrior doesn't attack the body or the mind, but they attack the most vulnerable target possible." said Kaye.  
  
"Did this person tell you what the most vulnerable target was Kaye?" asked Cye.  
  
"Yea he did, he said that the most vulnerable target possible is..." said Kaye as she began to keep herself from crying.  
  
"Is what Kaye?" asked Cye.  
  
"The most vulnerable target possible is the heart. Hurt the ones that they cares for, that is the most vulnerable target Cye." replied Kaye quietly as she lowered her head.   
  
"Kaye, trust me we will get Kento's kanji orb back, and we'll make sure to be extra careful so Maji doesn't get the rest of ours as well. But if he does Kaye, know that we will pass these tests and kick his sorry ass all the way back to the nexus." replied Cye with a fire in his eyes.  
  
"He's right you know." said Kento as he stood in the doorway. Kaye quickly turned around and faced him.  
  
"What are you doing up Kento, you should be in bed resting, hey wait a minute how long were you standing there?" asked Kaye.  
  
"Long enough." replied Kento as he looked at her.  
  
"Since you're up Kento, do ya feel like going downstairs and joining the rest of us?" asked Cye.   
  
"Sounds good to me, wait here I just have to throw a shirt on and I'll come downstairs with ya." replied Kento as he ran in and quickly came out with a clean shirt.  
  
"Well look who's up and around, shouldn't you be in bed resting Kento?" asked Mia as she and the others saw him, Kaye and Cye coming downstairs.  
  
"I'm fine Mia, I'm just a little sore from the fight that's all." replied Kento as he sat down on the couch.  
  
"If those two are having a hard time keeping you in bed, then I guess that we better not even try." said Ryo with a smirk, as he motioned over towards Cye and Kaye.  
  
"Hey!" said Cye and Kaye at the same time.  
  
"That reminds me, you guys have to work on your timing. Otherwise Kaye and I won't have any privacy." said Kento with a grin, as he looked over to her.  
  
"Kento." replied Kaye as she blushed.  
  
"I hate to break up the fun here, but unless we figure out what to do next, we're all in major trouble." said Sage as he brought a serious mood into the room.  
  
"Yea you're right Sage, but what are we suppose to do about Maji? If what he says is true, then he will possess all of our orbs as well. It'll be just a matter of time before he strikes again, I'm just not sure if we're going to be ready for when he does." replied Rowen.  
  
"What do you suggest that we do Rowen? Just sit around and wait?" asked Kento as he tried to stand up.  
  
"Kento sit down or you'll hurt yourself even more!" said Kaye as she gave him a stern look.  
  
"Fine, but I for one don't intend to just to stay here, sit on my hands and do nothing." replied Kento as he sat back down.  
  
"We know Kento, if what Lightning says is true about Maji, then we need to start coming up with some ideas." said Sage as he looked at him.  
  
"Well, does anyone have any suggestions?" asked Mia.  
  
"I think that none of us should go anywhere alone, that way someone will have some backup if Maji decides to attack again." suggested Cye.   
  
"Funny, that's the same thing that I told Kento." said Kaye as she crossed her arms.  
  
"Hey, I was just trying to protect you from that jerk." replied Kento as he began to get a little angry.  
  
"Yea I know that, but look where it got ya." said Kaye as glared at him.  
  
"That's enough, we don't need to be at each others throats. I'm sure that Maji would love it to see you fighting each other." replied Mia as she looked at Kaye and Kento sternly.  
  
"You're right Mia, sorry Kaye." said Kento as he gave her a small smile.  
  
"Yea, I'm sorry too Kento you didn't deserve that. Do you forgive me?" asked Kaye as she looked into his eyes. Before Kaye knew what was going on, she found herself in the midst of Kento kissing her, he then slowly drew back and gave her a huge grin.  
  
"I guess that's a yes." said Kaye as she blushed from Kento's kiss.   
  
"Ok now the two of you have made up, mind if we get back to figuring out some kind of plan here?" asked Sage in a mock annoyance. They looked at each other and then at Sage, giving him a nod to show that they were ready to continue. After a few hours of trying to come up with some kind of a plan, everyone decided it was finally time to retire for the night. 


	8. chapter 8

It started out to be a quiet night, until a yell woke everyone up from their slumber. "What the heck was that?!" asked Ryo as he stuck his head out of his room.   
  
"It came from Kento's room!" replied Cye as he and the others ran inside. When they got to his room, they found Kento sitting up, rocking back and forth holding his head and mumbling something.  
  
"Kento, hey Kento what happened?" asked Rowen. Kento stopped rocking and looked up to see he was safe and sound in his room.  
  
"Rowen?" asked Kento quietly.  
  
"Yea Kento it's me, we're all here. What happened to make you yell like that?" asked Rowen curiously.  
  
"I'm not sure, I don't, I don't remember." replied Kento as he looked around at his friends.   
  
"Well I have an idea of how to help him remember, but Kento has to be in total agreement with it." said Kaye as she walked over to his bedside.  
  
"Kaye, you're not going to do what I think that you're suggesting are you?" asked Kento. Kaye looked at him and nodded showing that he was right.  
  
"Are you crazy Kaye, going on a dream walk now?" asked Cye as he looked over to her.  
  
"It's the only way to find out what caused Kento to yell like that. So unless anyone else has any other ideas, then this is how we're going to find out." replied Kaye as she took a chair and set it next to him.  
  
"Kento you're not going to let her do that are ya?" asked Ryo as he looked at them.  
  
"Ryo, I want to know, I want to remember. So yea, Kaye whenever you're ready do your thing." said Kento as he laid back down.  
  
"I'll only do it Kento if you're absolutely sure." said Kaye as she looked at him in concern.  
  
"Do it Kaye, I'm ready." said Kento as he closed his eyes.   
  
"Guys, Mia I'm going to need you to leave the room, but don't go too far, just in case." said Kaye as she got ready to dream walk. They nodded and slowly left the two by themselves so that they could begin.  
  
"Kento, you still have time to reconsider." said Kaye.  
  
"No Kaye, I've made up my mind. We're going to do this so let's get started already, I would like to try and sleep for the rest of the night. What do ya need me to do?" asked Kento while his eyes still closed.  
  
"I just need you to try and focus on your dream, then I'll do the rest. One more thing Kento, remember you have control over what happens in your dreams. So if you think that things are starting to get a little hectic you can always pull out of the dream walk." replied Kaye. Kento gave a slight nod showing that he understood, and began to focus on his dream. Kaye smiled as she brushed his bangs out of his eyes, and then she grabbed his hand and closed her eyes. When Kaye opened her eyes, she found herself inside of Kento's dream.  
  
"Kento show me what made you yell out, please Kento show me what happened." thought Kaye as she looked around the pitch-black surroundings. Small-blur like images began to fly quickly in front of Kaye. It was hard for her to keep up with them, she could barely make them out as they appeared.  
  
"Kento, the images are going too fast. I can't see them clearly, please help me." said Kaye. Little by little, the images began to slow down enough so Kaye could be able to see what was going on. Kaye gave a small smile and began to focus on what was being shown to her.  
  
"Oh God, Kento. I'm so sorry, now I understand. It's time for me to leave your dream. Now sleep Kento, I'll see you in the morning." whispered Kaye as tears began to fall.  
  
"Alright, I've had it. This has gone on far too long." said Ryo as he began to open Kento's door.  
  
"Ryo wait, do ya hear that?" asked Cye in concern.  
  
"Hear what Cye?" asked Sage.  
  
"That, it sounds like someone is crying. Ryo's right we better get in there." replied Cye as he barged into the room. When they entered the room, they found Kento sound asleep and Kaye trying to wipe away her tears.  
  
"Well Kaye, did ya find what made Kento yell out like that or not?" asked Sage.  
  
"It's too dark to see, where is he? Where are they, are they alright? Did he get them too? Why is it so cold, so cold?" said Kaye quietly as she was holding her head in her hands.  
  
"Kaye, what are you talking about?" asked Mia as she slowly approached her.  
  
"Mia stop, don't go any closer." said Rowen as he caught on to what was happening.  
  
"Rowen, what are you talking about?" asked Mia as she looked at him.  
  
"It looks like Kaye found what made Kento yell out, and she's reliving what he was thinking at the time when Maji took his kanji orb." replied Rowen.  
  
"You don't know the half of it." said Kaye quietly as she looked up at them.  
  
"Kaye, are you alright?" asked Sage.  
  
"Yea, I'm just a little drained that's all. Nothing that a night's sleep won't cure." replied Kaye.  
  
"Was Rowen right in what he said about what Kento was thinking when Maji took his orb from him?" asked Ryo. Kaye looked from Ryo, and then to Kento. She gave a nod showing that what he said was right.  
  
"Is Kento going to be alright?" asked Cye in concern.  
  
"Yea Cye, he's going to be just fine. All he needs is some sleep, so why don't the rest of you go back to bed. I'm sure that Kento won't be waking you up for the rest of the night." replied Kaye as she began to usher them out of Kento's room.  
  
"Are you sure Kaye?" asked Ryo.  
  
"Yea, I'll make sure that he won't be having any more nightmares tonight. Now the rest of you go back to bed, and I'll see you in the morning." replied Kaye as she stood in the doorway. The others knew that when she got that look, she made up her mind. So the others went back to bed, Kaye turned around, walked inside and shut the door. She then walked over to the chair that was by Kento's bedside and sat down. Looking him over, she gave a small smile, knowing that he'll be alright, but she knew that she had to be there just in case. So that's where she stayed the whole entire night.  
  
In the nexus, "Hmm very interesting, I should have realized that the girl with the Tiger armor could have such an ability. It shouldn't really matter anyway, now I have to figure out who is going to be my next target. I know that they'll be more careful knowing that I already have Hardrock's kanji orb. Ah, yes why didn't I see this before? It'll work out perfectly, Maji you are definately onto something. I hope that the rest of you will be able to provide me with the same entertainment as your friend. Otherwise it won't be as fun when I take your kanji orbs as well." mused Maji as he gave an evil laugh.  
  
The next morning, "Oh man what a night." said Kento as he began to slowly wake up. He noticed that Kaye was a sleep in the chair that was next to his bed. Kento looked over at her and gave a huge grin.   
  
"Kaye stayed with ya the rest of the night." said Cye as he peaked his head into the room.  
  
"Come on in Cye." replied Kento as he motioned for Cye to come into his room.  
  
"How are ya feeling Kento?" asked Cye as he walked over to them.  
  
"I'm feeling just fine Cye, so Kaye actually stayed with me the rest of the night." replied Kento as he looked at him.  
  
"Yea she did, Kento, Kaye told us what she saw in your dream last night that made you yell out like you did." said Cye as he watched for some kind of reaction.  
  
"Is she ok?" asked Kento in concern as he sat up in bed while making sure that he didn't wake her.  
  
"Kaye seemed fine when she told us to go back to bed, but I think that she isn't telling us everything." replied Cye.  
  
"I see, hey Cye give me a few minutes to get ready and I'll meet ya downstairs." said Kento as he started to slowly get out of bed.  
  
"Alright Kento, I'll see ya in a few minutes then, but hurry up the food is starting to get cold." replied Cye with a smirk as he left Kento to get ready. Kento laughed and then looked down at Kaye.  
  
"I'm sorry that you had to see what happened Kaye when I was in that thing. I hope that you don't have to go through that either." thought Kento as he laid Kaye on his bed and covered her up. Kento gave her a kiss on her forhead, quietly backed away and continued finishing getting ready. Just before Kento left, he looked over at his bed one more time and gave a small smile.  
  
"Sleep well Kaye, you deserve it." thought Kento as he shut the door and went downstairs.   
  
"Hey Kento it's good to see you up and around." said Ryo as Kento joined them at the table.  
  
"Yea thanks Ryo, I feel better thanks to Kaye." replied Kento as he tried to wait patiently for the food.  
  
"Speaking of Kaye, where is she, I thought that she would be down here already?" asked Sage.  
  
"I'm right here." replied Kaye as she walked over to the table.  
  
"Morning Kaye, shouldn't you be sleeping right now?" asked Rowen as he looked at her.  
  
"I'm fine, just a little tired, nothing to worry about. Besides, after a short training session, I'll feel even better." replied Kaye with a small smile as she sat down next to Kento.  
  
"So now what do we do now?" asked Sage.  
  
"What do you mean Sage by what do we do now? We can't do really much of anything until Maji shows up again." replied Ryo.  
  
"Are you suggesting that we just sit around and wait for Maji to make his next move?" asked Sage in annoyance.  
  
"We can't exactly track this guy down now can we?" replied Ryo also in annoyance. Kaye was trying to block out the arguement that was going on between Ryo and Sage by lowering her head, closing her eyes and covering her ears. It didn't seem like it was helping, Kento looked over at her and then looked up.  
  
"Ryo, Sage that's enough! Stop arguing right now!" said Kento angrily as he slammed his hands on the table while glaring at them. Ryo and Sage stopped arguing and everyone except for Kaye, gave Kento a look of total confusion.  
  
"Kento, what in the world..?" asked Ryo confused.  
  
"Yea Kento what's the deal?" asked Sage.  
  
"Man, and you guys call me dense. Look at the two of you, arguing about what to do next. I can't believe that you two are acting like a couple of kids." replied Kento as he started to calm down.  
  
"Here I thought that Cye was the mediator of the group and not Kento, who knew." said Rowen as he realized why Kento was so angry.  
  
"Funny Rowen." replied Cye with a smirk. Kaye realized that the arguing finally stopped and started to pull away from the table.  
  
"Hey Kaye where are you going?" asked Mia as she watched Kaye walk away.   
  
"Sorry Mia, but I just realized that I'm not hungry. I just need some fresh air, I'll see ya later." replied Kaye as she grabbed her jacket and ran outside.  
  
"Smooth guys, real smooth." said Kento as he got up and got his jacket and ran after her.  
  
"What!?" asked Sage and Ryo at the same time.  
  
Outside, "This stupid test of Maji's has barely even started, Sage and Ryo are already arguing with each other. I do see their point though, man when is Maji going to show up again? What are we suppose to do when he does show, I mean none of us could stop him when he took Kento's orb, so then what's stopping him from taking the others?" asked Kaye to herself.  
  
"You want to know what will stop me from taking the orbs from the rest of you young one? Well I'll tell you, nothing can stop me so I would suggest that you hand yours over or else." said Maji as he appeared in front of her.   
  
"Oh man I had to go out on my own. I can't let him get my orb, I just can't." thought Kaye angrily as she got ready to transform into her armor.  
  
"Go on and transform into your armor, then it would be easier for me to take your orb from you." said Maji as he pulled something out from his small bag that he had tied to his belt.  
  
"What is he up to?" thought Kaye as she kept her eyes on him.  
  
"Well are you going to transform or what?" asked Maji.  
  
"Alright you asked for it! Armor of the Tiger come forth!" yelled Kaye as she finally transformed. Not too far away Kento was looking for Kaye, when he sensed something familiar.  
  
"No way, it can't be. he's back, oh man Kaye's alone out here! I have to find her and fast!" thought Kento as he took off running.  
  
"Now that's more like it, how about we make this a little more interesting shall we?" asked Maji as he began to glow red.  
  
"What do you mean by a little more interesting?" asked Kaye as she began to get a little nervous.  
  
"Kaye I'm hurt, did you forget about me already?" asked a voice.  
  
"No, it can't be." said Kaye as she looked into the shadows and saw something coming towards her.  
  
"Oh yea it is, it's me the armor of Hardrock. Now I would suggest that you hand over your orb to Maji or I'll take it from you myself." tauned the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"Kaye where are you? Answer me!" yelled Kento frantically.  
  
"Kento!" yelled Kaye.  
  
"Sorry but I don't think that your boyfriend will be able to save you from me. Iron Rock Crusher!" said the armor of Hardrock as he launched the sure-kill towards her. Just as Kento got there, he saw Kaye get struck down with the sure-kill and then she fell to the ground barely moving.  
  
"No! It can't be happening, hey get away from her!" yelled Kento as he started to run towards Kaye's body.  
  
"Now her kanji orb will be mine!" said Maji as he began to glow red. Maji launched a black engery ball towards Kaye.   
  
"I'm not going to let you get her orb!" yelled Kento as he grabbed for Kaye's arms as he tried to keep her from being pulled inside.  
  
"Foolish little man. Do you honestly think that you alone can save her? I highly doubt it, now watch as I take her orb and add it to my arsonal." said Maji as he sent a wave of electricity through Kento making him fall to the ground unconscious.   
  
"Now that makes two kanji orbs out of the six mine. Soon I'll have them all and nothing will be able to stop me." gloated Maji as Kaye's orb floated into Maji's opened hand. The black energy ball finally faded and Kaye was laying on the ground in her sub-armor. Kento was starting to wake up when he noticed that Maji disappeared.   
  
"Kaye, can you hear me?" asked Kento as he moved over to where Kaye was laying.  
  
"Kento." whispered Kaye as she tried to move.  
  
"Easy there Kaye, the others will be here soon. Just try to save your strength." said Kento.  
  
"It's so dark, I can't see. Why is it so cold, so cold?" asked Kaye in a whisper.  
  
"Come on you guys! What's taking you so long? I'm sure that you felt Maji's power level too, so where the heck are ya?" thought Kento as he held onto Kaye trying to keep her warm. Just then the others finally made it to where Kento was on the ground holding Kaye.  
  
"Kento what happened?" asked Sage as he came closer to them.  
  
"Can't you tell Sage? Maji got Kaye's orb." replied Kento angrily.  
  
"What, but how?" asked Ryo as he looked at Kento for an explanation.  
  
"Armor, armor of, armor of Hardrock." whispered Kaye.  
  
"Kento, what's she talking about?" asked Rowen.  
  
"I couldn't believe it, my armor attacked Kaye with its sure-kill, and then Maji trapped her inside of the same black energy ball that he had me in. Sage, do something!" said Kento in anger.  
  
"Kento, I need for you to move back, otherwise I won't be able to help her." replied Sage as he kneeled down on the other side of Kaye. Kento slowly moved back and let Sage do his thing, Sage quickly went to work. Shortly both Kaye and Sage stopped glowing, and then Sage stood up breathing a little harder than intended.  
  
"Sage are you alright?" asked Cye. Sage nodded showing that he was alright, Kento quickly went to Kaye's side, picked her up from the ground and carried her back to the mansion. 


	9. chapter 9

"Kento are you sure that it was your armor that you saw attacking Kaye?" asked Rowen in confusion.  
  
"Unless you know someone else that says Iron Rock Crusher, then yea it was my armor." replied Kento as he stayed with Kaye.  
  
"That's impossible, there's no way that Kento's armor could do that on its own. Can it?" asked Ryo.  
  
"It could be possible, just like when Talpa and the Nether Spirits took control over your armors, Maji somehow took control over the armor of Hardrock." explained Mia.  
  
"Then it's my fault. I'm the one that hurt Kaye, I'm the one that helped Maji get her orb." whispered Kento in anger.  
  
"Kento you're talking crazy, this isn't your fault. You have to believe that." said Cye as he tried to comfort him.  
  
"He's right Kento." whispered Kaye as she began to slowly wake up.  
  
"Kaye, you're awake! I'm so sorry Kaye, it's my fault that Maji got your orb." replied Kento.  
  
"No Kento it's not your fault. I shouldn't have ran off like I did, so it was my fault for going out alone, not yours. I should of had someone with me." whispered Kaye.  
  
"The only one to blame here is Maji. We know that he won't stop until he has all of our kanji orbs." said Sage.  
  
"Sage is right you guys, but what does he plan to do with them once he has all of the orbs? How does he plan to use them with the test?" asked Rowen.  
  
"Well there is one way to find out." said Ryo.  
  
"Oh really, and how do ya plan to do that Ryo, go up and just ask him?" asked Kento in anger.  
  
"Actually Kento, yea that's exactly what we're going to do." replied Ryo with a smirk.  
  
"No Ryo, you can't do that, he'll take your orbs too." said Kaye as she tried to get up.   
  
"Kaye, lay back down! You're still injured, so don't even try to get up. You need your rest." said Kento as he stopped her from sitting up.  
  
"You know what, I think that I've heard someone say something close to those same words not too long ago." said Mia with a smirk.  
  
"Very funny Mia." replied Kaye as she crossed her arms across her chest.  
  
"I think that we better let Kaye get her rest." said Rowen.  
  
"I don't think that you'll get an argument from anyone here Rowen." replied Sage as everyone else nodded in agreement. So Mia and the guys left Kaye's room, leaving Kento to watch over her.  
  
"Kento, I thought that you would be going with them?" asked Kaye.  
  
"Actually I thought that I would stay here with you. To make sure that you'll be ok. Besides, turn about is fair play, right." replied Kento with a grin.  
  
"Yea I guess that you're right." replied Kaye with a tired grin as she finally fell asleep.   
  
"I swear Kaye, with or without my armor I'll make Maji pay for what he has done. I promise." whispered Kento as he watched over Kaye as she slept.  
  
In the livingroom the Ronins and Mia are having a discussion on what to do next. "Alright guys, any ideas?" asked Mia as she looked at them.  
  
"This guy is going to be a lot harder to take down than I originally thought. Since he's already got Kento's and Kaye's orbs, it'll be only a matter of time before Maji gets ours as well." said Rowen.  
  
"So what are you saying Rowen? Are you saying that we should just hand over our orbs without some kind of fight?" asked Ryo in disbelief.  
  
"No Ryo that's not what I'm saying at all." replied Rowen as he looked at him.  
  
"Then Rowen what are you saying?" asked Sage.  
  
"I'm just saying that we need to figure out a different kind of strategy to fight this guy." explained Rowen.   
  
"Well then what do you propose that we do?" asked Cye.  
  
"Maybe we should go with what Ryo said earlier." said Rowen.  
  
"What! You mean about just going up to Maji, and asking him how he intends to use them for this so called test? Ok Rowen, I think that you and Ryo both got some screws loose." replied Cye in disbelief.  
  
"Whoa wait a minute Cye, you're not hearing me out on this." said Rowen as he tries to get control of the conversation.  
  
"Ok then, convince me that this plan that you two have just came up with will work." replied Cye skeptically.  
  
"It's like what Maji said, he's collecting the orbs only one at a time right. Well what if we..." said Rowen as he began to explain his plan. Just as Rowen was about to continue, Maji appeared in the backyard.  
  
"Ronin warriors come out and hand over your kanji orbs. As you know, I already have two of them, if you come out now I'll be merciful." yelled Maji as he stood outside waiting for them.  
  
"Hey what's going on down there?" asked Kento as he ran out of Kaye's room.  
  
"It's Maji, he's here." replied Cye as he looked up towards Kento.  
  
"What! Alright let me at him!" said Kento angrily as he ran downstairs.  
  
"Kento no! Someone has to stay here and watch over Kaye and Mia. Besides you don't have your armor any more remember." said Sage as he got in front of Kento to prevent him from fighting Maji.  
  
"Sage I don't care, armor or no armor. I'm going to make this jerk pay for what he did!" said Kento angrily.  
  
"I'm growing impatient Ronin warriors, either you come out here, or I'm coming in. What's it going to be?" asked Maji as he began to get angry.  
  
"Guys you don't have time to argue about this. So what's the decision?" asked Mia sternly.  
  
"Guys, you know that he's going to go out there and fight Maji anyway. Besides you're going to need all the help you can get." said Kaye as she was trying to support herself on the railing.   
  
"Kaye, you shouldn't be up. You are suppose to be in bed getting your strength back." replied Rowen as he and the others watched her come downstairs to join them.  
  
"Yea well, Kento's not suppose to go out and fight Maji either, but he's going to anyway if ya want him to or not." said Kaye as she looked at them.  
  
"Fine then, Kento at least you still have your sub-armor, so that should give you some kind of protection. But still watch your back while you're out there." replied Rowen.  
  
"I'll be fine guys, I'm not the one he's after any more in case you've forgotten." said Kento.  
  
"This is my final warning Ronin warriors, come out now!" yelled Maji.  
  
"Then what about Kaye and Mia, they won't be protected?" asked Rowen in concern.  
  
"We'll be fine Rowen, White Blaze can stay with us." replied Mia.  
  
"Ok now that's settled, let's get this guy!" said Kento as he called upon his sub-armor.  
  
"Guys be careful." said Kaye as she, Mia and White Blaze watch them take off to fight Maji.  
  
"It's about time that you showed up, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to put in an appearance. Now I can collect the remaining kanji orbs, and then the second phase of the test shall begin." said Maji as he got ready for the fight.  
  
"We're not going to give them up without a fight Maji!" warned Cye angrily.  
  
"I wouldn't have it any other way. Now armor of the Tiger, armor of Hardrock come forth!" commanded Maji as he threw the two kanji orbs into the air. The orbs transformed into the two armors and landed on either side of Maji standing ready to fight.  
  
"What! No way that can't be possible, he can't have complete control over the armors already?" said Sage in disbelief.  
  
"What's the matter Ronins? Is the fact that you'll be soon fighting the Tiger armor and the armor of Hardrock too much for you to handle?" taunted Maji with an evil grin.  
  
"Man, this definately doesn't look good." thought Ryo as he kept his eyes on Maji and the two armors that stood ready to fight.  
  
"Well what are you waiting for, an invitation?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"Come now, hand over your orbs. Don't make this more difficult that it has to be." said the Tiger armor.  
  
"Kento, stay close to the mansion, we'll take on Maji and the two armors." said Ryo as he glanced back at Kento seeing that he was more than ready to kick some major butt.  
  
"Ryo, are you crazy? There's no way that I'm just going to stand back and let you guys have all of the fun. Besides, I made a vow that I would make Maji pay for what he has done." replied Kento as he was getting angry.  
  
"No Kento, Ryo's right. You have to make sure that Maji and the armors don't get into the mansion. You're our ace in the whole." replied Cye as he was trying to convince him to stand down from the fight.  
  
"Aaah! Fine! I'll stand down, but don't think that I'm just going to stand by for very long." said Kento in annoyance.  
  
"Hopefully they don't get into the mansion, otherwise Kaye and Mia will be in major trouble." replied Rowen as he and the others got ready to confront Maji and the two armors.   
  
"Well come on, come on I don't have all night. Do you plan to fight or what?" asked Maji in annoyance.  
  
"You want an answer, well I'll be more than happy to give it to you. Flare up now!" yelled Ryo as he began the attack on Maji and the two armors. Maji saw the attack coming straight at him, and put up some kind of barrier while the two armors jumped out of the way.   
  
"No way! This is going to be tougher than we thought guys. I think that we better split up if we're going to stand a chance of getting those orbs back." said Sage as he and the others watched them.  
  
"That's it, yes split up that way it'll be easier to collect your orbs from you." thought Maji with an evil grin.   
  
"You two know what to do." said Maji. The two armors nodded showing that they understood as they got ready to fight, and with a blink of an eye the fight began. Cye was fighting against the armor of Hardrock, Rowen was against the Tiger armor, while Sage and Ryo went to face off with Maji.   
  
"Man, this feels totally weird." said Cye as he blocked the attack from the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"I know what you mean Cye, but we have to do it this way or Kento and Kaye won't get their orbs back." replied Rowen as he blocked an attack from the Tiger armor.   
  
"Well, it looks like your friends are having difficulties with fighting the two armors. What makes the two of you think that you even have a chance against me?" taunted Maji as he began to glow red.  
  
"Hey, don't count us out yet. You only have those two armors because you took them by surprise that's all." replied Sage as he attacked Maji.  
  
"Yea and we're not going to let you take our orbs either. So hand over the orbs that you stole, and maybe just maybe we'll go easy on you." said Ryo as he attacked Maji.  
  
"That's rich, me give back the orbs. You are all fools to believe that I would do such a thing. Besides what makes you think that I don't have you right where I want you." taunted Maji as he laughed evilly.  
  
"What are you talking about?" asked Sage angrily.  
  
"You'll see. Armor of Hardrock, Tiger armor are you ready?" asked Maji as he continued to glow red. The two armors nodded and jumped into position. The guys stepped back in surprise, while keeping their eyes on the them to see what they were going to do next.  
  
Inside the mansion, "No, he can't! Mia we have to stop him!" said Kaye as she realized what Maji had planned.  
  
"Kaye what are you talking about?" asked Mia.  
  
"Maji's going to collect the rest of the kanji orbs, and he's going to use my and Kento's armor to help him." replied Kaye as she ran out the door.  
  
"Kento!" yelled Kaye as she was running towards him.  
  
"Kaye what are you doing out here? Don't you know how dangerous it is? Now get back inside!" said Kento as he turned around to face her.  
  
"There's no time Kento, Maji's going to get the rest of the orbs. We have to stop him!" said Kaye in alarm.  
  
"Mia, what's Kaye talking about? How does he plan to get the orbs?" asked Kento in confusion.  
  
"Look how Maji has everyone set up of where he wants them to be. The guys on the inside while Maji, your armor and Kaye's armor are surrounding them. It looks like he's going to some how get what he came for after all." replied Mia in alarm.  
  
"What! Guys get out of there!" yelled Kento as he turned around and tried to warn them.  
  
"Kento, what are you talking about?" asked Cye as he glanced over at him.  
  
"He's talking about the trap that we have snared you into. Now your orbs will be mine, and soon the second phase of the test will begin." replied Maji as he shot a red energy wave up into the sky. The other two armors followed his lead, then the three red energy waves met and came down upon the four Ronins hittiing them dead on. The guys began to yell from the intense pain of the attack. Then, four black energy balls started forming around them and entrapped each one inside.   
"No! Stop it, no more!" yelled Kaye as she, Kento and Mia watched in horror as the remaining orbs were floating towards Maji's opened hand. As soon as Maji closed his hands with the orbs now in his possession, he finally made the black energy balls disappear, leaving the others laying on the ground in their sub-armors.   
  
"Now all of the orbs are in my possession, to show that I'm not a total barbarian, I'll give you a few days to recover before the second phase of the test begins. This shall provide to be most amusing, now we'll see if you and your friends are worthy of the armors." said Maji as he and now all of the armors disappeared. 


	10. chapter 10

"Kento, White Blaze, Kaye help me get the guys inside." said Mia as she started to take charge of the situation. Luckily with their help it didn't take long for Mia to set things up so they could tend to their wounds.  
  
"Now what do we do?" asked Kento as he grabbed a couple of cold wash clothes to wash off the blood that was dried onto Cye's neck.  
  
"What can we do Kento, Maji has all of our orbs. Besides we have to figure out what he means by the second phase of the test." replied Kaye as she applied a cold pac onto Rowen's head.  
  
"I'm trying to figure out why Maji said that he was going to give us a few days to recover? I mean why doesn't he just attack again?" wondered Mia as she finished cleaning Ryo's wounds and then moved over to Sage.  
  
"He wants to see..if we can fight..without our armors..that's why..he's waiting..until we're fully..recovered." replied Sage weakly as he was opening his eyes.  
  
"Sage don't talk, you have to save your strength." replied Mia as she tended to his wounds.  
  
"He's right..for some..reason...he wants to wait..until...we're fully...recovered. Before...before he strikes again." whispered Rowen as he tried to sit up.  
  
"Rowen, lay back down before you hurt yourself even more." said Kaye as she tried to help him back down.  
  
After Mia put away the first aid kit, she went into the kitchen and started to make them something to eat when they wake up. Kento grabbed his jacket and headed for the back door. "Hey Kento where are ya going?" asked Kaye as she noticed that he was almost out the door.  
  
"Don't worry Kaye, I'm not going very far. I just need to clear my head for a little while that's all." replied Kento as he shut the door behind him.   
  
"Kento." whispered Kaye as she watched him from the window.  
  
"Go after him Kaye." whispered Cye as looked at her.  
  
"Go after him? Cye, it's clear that Kento wants to be alone right now." replied Kaye as she turned around and locked her eyes with his.  
  
"Are you sure about that?" asked Cye in a whisper.  
  
"Cye, your injured in case you've forgotten, you should be resting." replied Kaye as she gave him a stern look.  
  
"It's not that bad, and besides you're trying to switch the subject." said Cye with a small smirk.  
  
"Yea I guess that I am." replied Kaye as she smirked back.  
  
"Then why are you still here talking with me? You should be out there with him, go Kaye, go to him, because if you don't you'll regret it." said Cye with a glint of mischief in his eyes.  
  
"Fine Cye, I'll go, but you have to promise me that you'll go back to sleep and get some rest." replied Kaye as she grabbed her jacket.  
  
"Ok I promise, now go on Kaye. I'll see ya later." said Cye as he smiled and watched the door close behind her.   
  
"Cye, that was definately an interesting conversation that the two of you had." said Ryo quietly.  
  
"Ryo, I'm surprised that you were listening in, I thought that you were still asleep." replied Cye.  
  
"Nope, and I wasn't the only one that was awake during the talk that you two had either." said Ryo as he motioned over to where Sage and Rowen were now starting to sit up.  
  
"It figures." replied Cye as he gave a smirk while he was now sitting up.  
  
"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?" asked Sage.  
  
"Nothing Sage, I'm just surprised that none of you said anything." replied Cye as he looked at them.  
  
"Naw, we thought that you handled it pretty well by yourself anyway." said Rowen with a smirk.  
  
"Now that's a first." said Mia as she walked into the room.  
  
"Mia, what do you mean by that?" asked Ryo as he and the others turned their attention towards her.  
  
"I mean that you guys didn't say anything during their conversation, that's so unlike you." replied Mia with a smirk.  
  
"Ha, ha very funny Mia." replied Sage sarcastically.  
  
"Yea I thought so too." said Mia with a grin.  
  
Outside, "I hate this, the fact of not knowing what to do, it's driving me crazy. There has to be a way, there has to be." thought Kento in frustration.  
  
"Kento! Where are you? Kento answer me!" yelled Kaye as she was trying to find him.  
  
"Kaye? I'm over here!" yelled Kento as he waved his hands in the air. Kaye ran over to where he was waving and finally caught up with him.   
  
"Hey there Kento, the guys are starting to wake up. I'm sure that Mia has supper ready by now. So why don't we go back inside and..." said Kaye as she began to lead him back to the mansion.   
  
"Sorry Kaye, but I think that I want to stay out here for a while. Why don't you go back without me." replied Kento as he took his arm from Kaye's grasp.  
  
"Kento, please come back inside. You'll freeze if you stay out here for too long." said Kaye as she tried again to lead him back into the mansion.  
  
"I can't go back in there Kaye, not right now. I'm not sure if I can face them just yet." replied Kento as he pulled away from her again.  
  
"Kento what are you talking about, what do you mean?" asked Kaye in concern.  
  
"I should have been able to help them out against Maji, but all I did was stand back and watch him take the other orbs. I should have done something." replied Kento as he turned away from her.  
  
"I see, and here I thought that Ryo was the one that usually played on the guilt trips. Kento you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened." said Kaye.  
  
"Why not blame myself, I mean come on Kaye let's get real here. I was there when Maji took your orb, I couldn't stop him from taking it. Now he has all of the orbs, and I know that I could have done something." replied Kento as he clenched his hands into tight fists.  
  
"What could you have done? You're not the only one that feels that way Kento. I wanted to stop Maji just as badly as you did. I know exactly how you feel right now, so don't even start believing that this could of been prevented. All that means is, now we have to fight harder than ever not only against Maji, but our armors as well." replied Kaye as she placed her hands onto his fists.   
  
"I don't believe it." said Kento with a small smile as he looked at her.  
  
"What?" asked Kaye as she looked at him with curiosity.  
  
"You." replied Kento with a smile.  
  
"What about me?" asked Kaye still confused.  
  
"Don't you see what you're doing?" asked Kento as he moved in closer to her.  
  
"No, but why don't you try to enlighten me." replied Kaye as she locked her gaze with his.  
  
"You're being my strength, just like when you said that I'm yours." said Kento.  
  
"Kento." whispered Kaye.  
  
"Shh Kaye." Kento whispered back as he went to kiss her.   
  
"It's about time, we were wondering when you two would finally get to the good part." said Sage.   
  
Kaye and Kento quickly broke apart, and turned around to see that the others were standing there with big grins on their faces. "Yea, it looked like the two of you were getting pretty hot over there." replied Ryo with a grin.  
  
"Don't stop on our account." said Rowen as he winked at them.  
  
"Sorry Rowen, but I have a better idea in mind. What do ya think Kento should we?" asked Kaye as she looked up at him.  
  
"Allow me." said Kento as he and Kaye looked at them with a dangerous smiles on their faces.   
  
"Hey, what are the two of you planning?" asked Cye in curiosity.   
  
"You'll see, alright Kento they're all yours." replied Kaye.  
  
"Come on you guys, this won't hurt...MUCH!" replied Kento as he charged at them.  
  
"Ah guys, I think now would be a good time to...RUN!" said Rowen.   
  
"That Rowen, is the best idea I've heard all day." said Ryo as he, Sage and Rowen began to run away from Kento. While Kento was chasing those three, Kaye, Cye and Mia stood there watching trying really hard not to laugh.  
  
"I really feel sorry for those guys, but then again, they did ask for it." said Mia as she was laughing.  
  
"Yea they sure did. Hey Cye." replied Kaye as she turned her attention towards him.  
  
"Yea Kaye?" asked Cye as he looked at her.  
  
"I just wanna say, thanks." said Kaye with a smile.  
  
"No problem." replied Cye with a smile.  
  
"Hey look over there, it looks like Kento finally caught up with them." said Mia as she motioned over to Ryo, Rowen and Sage as they were trying to get out of a very deep snow bank.  
  
"Kento that was low, even for you." said Sage as he was still trying to wipe off the snow from his jacket.  
  
"Maybe that'll teach ya not to intrude into a private moment with me and my girl." replied Kento as he wrapped his arms around Kaye.  
  
"I doubt it." said Kaye sarcastically.  
  
"Before this turns into a free for all, why don't we go inside. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like turning into an icicle." said Mia as she began to walk back to the mansion.   
  
"Well guys what are we going to do now?" asked Kaye as she and the others followed Mia back to the mansion.  
  
"What else, we're going to get our orbs back, find Maji and show the jerk that he shouldn't have messed with us in the first place. That Kaye, is what were now going to do, how's that for an answer?" asked Kento as he looked over to her.  
  
"Sounds like a plan to me Kento." replied Kaye with a smile as she looked over to him.  
  
"I don't believe my ears, Kento actually came up with a plan all on his own. Ok who are you and what did you with the real Kento?" teased Rowen.  
  
"How would you like to go back into that snow bank Rowen. I can arrange it with no problems." warned Kento as he threw a glare at him.  
  
"No thanks, one time with my head in a snow bank is more than enough." replied Rowen with a smirk as he and the others were laughing while going inside. 


	11. chapter 11

In the nexus, Maji was watching with extreme intrest of what was going on with his latest victims. "Maji, as you can see, the ones that you took the orbs from still possess the will to fight." said the armor of Strata.  
  
"You maybe right Strata, so then what makes you think that's not exactly what I want all along?" asked Maji as he walked away from the portal.  
  
"You must be totally out of your mind to even think that you stand a remote of a chance against them." said the armor of Halo.  
  
"So what if I am Halo, besides, I'm very impressed that they even survived the first phase of the test. Most of them don't even make it to the second. Now I think that it's almost time for the second phase to begin." replied Maji as he began to put his plan into action.  
  
"Hey, wait a minute! You said that you would give them a few days to recover. You're not going back on your word now are you?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"No Hardrock, I don't intend to do that in the least, I do have some honor you know." replied Maji as he tapped his fingers on his magic book. The armors were not exactly satisfied with his answer, but they let it drop for now. So they walked away from Maji leaving him to look through the pages trying to find the right spells that he was looking for, so he would be ready for the next time that they meet.  
  
"Interesting, it seems that the armors are somehow concerned about them. Ever since the tests were first introduced back when the armors were created from Talpa, not once the armors gave any indication of having concern for their past wearers. This might turn into a problem for me later on. I wonder why now of all times, they finally decided to care for them. Ah yes here it is, these should work very well to my advantage. Soon it'll be time to pay them another visit, this should be prove to be very entertaining indeed." mused Maji as he closed his magic book and retired to his room.  
  
A few days later, "Nice view, mind some company?" asked Kento as he approached Kaye with a back pack.  
  
"Huh, oh Kento hi, no I don't mind. Hang on a sec." replied Kaye as she wiped the snow off of the bench.  
  
"Thanks, so what are ya doing over here by yourself?" asked Kento as he put down the back pack.  
  
"Hey sure no problem, I was just thinking." replied Kaye as she looked at him.  
  
"Let me guess, you were thinking about when Maji is going to attack next. Am I right?" said Kento as he looked at her. Kaye nodded her head showing that he was right. Kento wrapped his arms around her, she then leaned back into his embrace having a feeling of knowing that he will always be there with her no matter what. Kaye then tilted her head up towards his and gave him a warm smile. He returned one of his own, and then they both laid back and looked up at the starry night sky.  
  
"Now isn't this the site to behold. Two people that are in love, huddled together and looking at the stars. Trying so hard to believe that everything will turn out to be alright. Well, I'm sorry to bring you down to reality, but that won't be happening." said Maji as he appeared not too far away from them.  
  
"Maji, you have a lot of nerve to come here!" said Kento angrily as he moved Kaye behind him.   
  
"Come now, don't you remember the last time that I was here? I told you that I would give all of you a few days to recover, and then we'll begin the second phase of the test." said Maji as he watched them.  
  
"If Maji's here, then where are the armors?" thought Kaye as she began to look around.  
  
"If you are looking for the armors, you won't find them around here." said Maji as he noticed that Kaye was looking around.  
  
"Then where? Oh God, Kento we gotta go, now!" said Kaye in alarm as she realized where they were.  
  
"Go, Kaye where? No way, they're not." replied Kento as he realized what Kaye was thinking.  
  
"I would hurry if I were you. Who knows what is happening to your friends right now." tauned Maji as he watched them take off running towards the mansion.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Has anyone seen the two love birds around lately?" asked Sage as he glanced out the window.  
  
"Now that you've mentioned it, they haven't been around for a while. Maybe we should go out and look for them. What do you think Sage? Sage?" replied Mia as she looked towards him.  
  
"Quiet, something isn't right." said Sage as he sensed something.  
  
"Hey you're right, guys get ready we're about to get some unexpected company." replied Rowen as he got into a defensive position.  
  
"What about Kaye and Kento, they're still out there somewhere?" asked Cye in concern.  
  
"I'm sure that right now they're better off than we are Cye." replied Ryo as he was ready for the on coming fight.  
  
"Ronin warriors, come out and fight us, or we'll come in and get you." said the armor of Wildfire.  
  
"It doesn't look like we have much of a choice in the matter." said Sage.  
  
"Then let's not disappoint them." replied Ryo as he and the others ran outside with their sub-armors on and ready to fight.  
  
"Well, it took you long enough." said the Torrent armor.  
  
"Sorry about that, but we weren't expecting company." replied Rowen.  
  
"Not everyone is here, where are the other two?" asked the Halo armor.  
  
"Actually we don't know where they are, but why don't you deal with us instead." replied Cye as he and the others got into defensive positions.  
  
Not too far off, Kaye and Kento were almost to the mansion when they heard sounds of a battle. "Oh man this can't be good, I hope that they hold out long enough for us to get there." thought Kento as he and Kaye continued running towards the mansion.  
  
"Kento, how are we suppose to fight our armors, especially when we don't have any special attacks and they do?" asked Kaye.  
  
"I'm not exactly sure Kaye, but we'll worry about that when the time comes. Right now we need to hurry up and get there so we can back the others up." replied Kento as they transformed into their sub-armors.  
  
"Hey guys, did you decide to start the party without us?" said Kaye as she and Kento arrived.  
  
"It's about time that you two showed up, we were begining to wonder if you were going to put in an appearance." replied Rowen as he blocked his own armor.  
  
"Sorry about the wait, but we had a little run in with Maji. He's the one who told us about this little get together." replied Kaye.  
  
"Guys, this isn't right, we shouldn't be fighting our own armors." said Cye as he attacked his armor.  
  
"We know Cye, but it looks like we don't exactly have a choice in the matter now do we?" asked Sage as he blocked his armor.  
  
"Well since everyone is here, now would be the time to go into the second phase of the test." said Maji as he appeared hovering in the sky.  
  
"Maji, oh great it's not like we don't have enough to deal with." thought Kaye as she dodged an attack from her armor.  
  
"Second phase, what do you mean by that Maji?" asked Kento as he tried to attack his own armor.  
  
"You'll see soon enough. Armors, hear me! Restrain them so we may return to the nexus and continue the tests." ordered Maji. In a blink of an eye, each of the armors disappeared and then reappeared right behind them grabbing each person from behind.  
  
"No way that the armors could be that fast on their own. Maji must have done something to increase their powers in some way." thought Rowen as he and the others were trying to struggle free.  
  
"Let go, you're hurting me! Let go!" said Kaye as she continued to struggle.  
  
"Sorry young one, but the armors won't listen to any of you any more, they are under my control. Now back to the nexus, so we can begin phase two." replied Maji as they all disappeared leaving Mia and White Blaze staring at the spot where their friends were once standing.  
  
"No, this can't be happening. There has to be a way to get them back, there just has to be." thought Mia as she and White Blaze ran back into the mansion.  
  
In the nexus, "Where are we?" asked Sage as he and the others were looking around.  
  
"That's an easy question to answer. You are in the nexus, if you don't believe me, then why don't you ask your young friend?" replied Maji as he got close to her.  
  
"Kaye, is what he saying true? Are we really in the nexus?" asked Rowen as he looked in her direction.  
  
"Unfortunately." replied Kaye as she glared at Maji.  
  
"In all of my time testing the wearers of the Ronin armors, I've never seen a female dawn an armor before. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how she will do." said Maji as he got closer.   
  
"Don't even think of touching her!" warned Kento angrily as he glared at Maji.  
  
"Oh really and why shouldn't I?" taunted Maji.  
  
"Because if you lay a hand on her, I'll personally make sure that it will be the very last thing that you'll ever do." replied Kento in a dangerous voice.  
  
"That would be something to see, but I think that you'll have a problem with pulling that off." replied Maji with an evil smile.  
  
"Oh really, and why's that?" asked Kento angrily.  
  
"Simple, I can never die, I'm an immortal." replied Maji as he began to laugh.  
  
"Maji, what do you want us to do with them?" asked the armor of Strata.  
  
"For now, throw them in there. Then we'll take them out when it's time for the second phase to begin." replied Maji as he motioned over to a room in the corner.   
  
"Come on let's go, move it already!" said the armor of Wildfire as the armors were escorting them to the room.  
  
"There ya go, make yourselves comfortable, you just might be here for a very, very long time." said the armor of Halo as it shut the door and left them locked inside.  
  
"The nerve of that guy, Kaye are you alright?" asked Cye in concern.  
  
"Yea Cye I'm alright. Ok guys what are we suppose to do now, any ideas?" asked Kaye as she looked at each of them.  
  
"Unfortunately we can't do anything at the moment. The only thing that we can do, is to wait until they come and get us." replied Ryo as he sat down on a bench.  
  
"So that's it, we're just going to sit here and wait?" asked Kento in disbelief.  
  
"What else can we do Kento? It's not like we exactly have a lot of options." replied Sage as he glared at him.  
  
"Guys, you three arguing isn't exactly a good idea, we have to figure out how to get out of here, get our orbs back, stop Maji, and how to get home." said Rowen as he tried to get control of the situation.  
  
"That won't be easy Rowen, we have no idea of how the nexus really works." replied Cye.  
  
"Maybe we do, Kaye remember when you told us that Maji said the nexus is sort of like the dream realm?" asked Rowen.  
  
"Yea, so what about it?" asked Kaye.  
  
"Well maybe, just maybe you can dream walk out of here and find a way for the rest of us to get out as well." replied Rowen.  
  
"I'm not sure about that, I don't know how my ability will work in this place." said Kaye.  
  
"Come on Rowen, you can't be serious!" said Kento in a bit of an alarm.  
  
"It's the only way that might work, besides I don't hear anyone else coming up with any ideas. So, will you do it?" said Rowen as he looked towards her.  
  
"Well, I definately don't want to stay here. I guess that it's decided, I'll do it." replied Kaye reluctantly.  
  
"Kaye, are you completely sure about this?" asked Ryo.  
  
"No, but how can anyone be completely sure about anything." replied Kaye with a small smile. 


	12. chapter 12

"How much longer will it take for them to find the way out of that room? Maybe I didn't make the exit as obvious as I thought. What's this that I sense? Some kind of power level I've never felt before. It can't be coming from any of the Ronins, then is it coming from the girl?" wondered Maji as he was watching the room.  
  
"Rowen are you crazy? Why would you have Kaye take such a risk? Didn't you hear what Kaye said about how she wasn't sure on how her ability would work in here?" asked Kento in annoyance.  
  
"Kento calm down. I'll be alright don't worry, as soon as I'm out of this room I'll find a way to get the rest of you out as well." replied Kaye as she began to get into her trance.   
  
"Well here goes nothing." thought Kaye as she was now glowing silver. As Kaye was getting closer to the door, the silver glow became so bright that the guys had to cover their eyes so they wouldn't be blinded. When the light was gone, they opened their eyes and they noticed that Kaye wasn't anywhere to be found.  
  
"Do you think that it worked?" asked Cye as he looked around at the others.  
  
"I hope so Cye, I hope so." replied Kento quietly.  
  
Just outside of the room, "Whoa, it worked, it actually worked! Yes! Ok, ok calm down Kaye, now you have to figure out how to get the guys out. There has to be a door around here somewhere, I mean that it couldn't of just disappeared. Then again I wouldn't be surprised of anything that deals with this place." thought Kaye as she was looking for the door.   
  
"She actually got out, I'm impressed." said Maji as he noticed what Kaye was doing.  
  
"You shouldn't be, she is a ronin after all. Besides, weren't you the one that said something about making their exit obvious?" replied the Tiger armor.  
  
"Who gave you the authority to read my mind, let alone the fact that you didn't tell me that you have that particular ability." said Maji as he kept his eyes on Kaye.  
  
"You never asked." replied the Tiger armor.  
  
"Well it doesn't matter now, what do you say that we give her a hand?" asked Maji as he began to glow red.   
  
"Do whatever you like, you have so far." replied the Tiger armor as it disappeared.  
  
"Come on, come on, where's the stupid door already?" thought Kaye in frustration. Just as she was about to punch on the wall, she noticed that there was a red glow not too far from where she was standing. Kaye began to slowly, and cautiously walk towards the red glow.  
  
"Yes that's it, keep going. Just a little further, you're almost there." thought Maji as his own red glow began to become brighter.  
  
"Is this the door? It has to be, I mean it has the same red glow as the exit that was on the inside. Well I don't exactly have much time to debate on this, there's only one way to find out. Now how do I get it open?" thought Kaye as she began to look around for something to help her to open the door.   
  
After a quick look around, Kaye found nothing. So she did the only thing that she could think of, she backed up a few feet and charged at the door.   
  
WHAM! "What the heck was that?" asked Rowen as he and the others quickly turned around to see what could have possibly made that sound.   
  
WHAM! "Hey, check this out. It looks like there's a small crack here." said Sage as motioned the guys over.  
  
"You guys know what this means?" asked Kento with his eyes glowing with excitement.  
  
"Yea, it means that it worked, and that Kaye is trying to break down the door." replied Ryo with a smirk.  
  
WHAM! "Oh man, this is one tough door. I can't give up, the guys are counting on me. Come on Kaye one more time." thought Kaye as he kanji of determination flared.  
  
Kaye backed up and gave one more charge towards the door, and then a final WHAM! Kaye flew through the door and landed on the floor. "Kaye are you alright? That was one heck of an entrance that you've made, what you couldn't find a key?" asked Rowen with a smirk.  
  
"Ha, ha Rowen very funny. Yea I'll be alright, just a little sore that's all. I think that next time though, I'll let Kento break the doors down instead of me." replied Kaye as she was getting up.  
  
"Unless you guys want to stay here, I would suggest that we find Maji, get our orbs back and try to figure out how to get back home." said Cye as he was checking to see if the coast was clear.  
  
"No arguments here Cye, so let's get going already." replied Sage as he and the others got out of the room.  
  
"Ok were out, now which way do we go? Kaye, you've been here before, any ideas?" asked Ryo.  
  
"Sorry Ryo, but the last time that I was here, I didn't exactly plan on taking a tour." replied Kaye sarcastically.  
  
"Bravo, bravo, I'm impressed with how you got out of that room. Not many people from before would thought of what you just did. But I'm surprised that it took you so long to get out of there in the first place." said Maji as he approached them while clapping.  
  
"Maji, give us back our orbs, and while you're at it show us the way out so we can go home." said Ryo as he glared at him.  
  
"I would love to give back your orbs, and send you home, but you see it doesn't work that way. You still have to pass the test to see if you are worthy of even having your armors." replied Maji coldly.  
  
"Hey pal, we don't have to prove anything to you, or anyone else for that matter. For the last time, hand them over, and then we'll find our own way out." said Rowen.  
  
"It never ceases to amaze me, ever since the test was created, it seems like the wearers of the armors still want to do things the hard way. Well who am I to argue? If a fight is what they want, then a fight they will get. Armors come to me!" ordered Maji as he called each of the armors to stand in front of each respected wearer.  
  
"No way, he has to be putting us on, right?" asked Kento as he was staring at his armor of Hardrock.  
  
"It looks like he means it, oh great just great, and how do you propose that we fight against our own armors? They have the sure-kills and we don't. If we're not careful, then I'm not sure if we can survive." replied Kaye as she got into defensive position.  
  
"I have an idea, but it's a long shot." said Sage as they made a circle with their backs to each other.  
  
"Sage, would you stop keeping us in suspense and tell us already. We're running out of time." replied Cye as he kept his eyes on his armor of Torrent.  
  
"Ok, we each know the strengths and weaknesses of our armors right?" said Sage as he kept his eyes on his armor of Halo.  
  
"Yea, so? Get to the point already." replied Kento as he was getting a little annoyed.  
  
"So. We use each of the armors' weaknesses to our advantage. Now do you see where I'm going with this?" asked Sage as he got into a defensive position.  
  
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's stop talking and start fighting." replied Ryo as he got ready to attack.  
  
"That's an interesting theory, I'm rather curious to see if that will actually work or not. Armors, attack." said Maji coldly as he watched the fight between the armors, Kaye and the ronins begin.  
  
Meanwhile back at the Koji mansion, "Where is it? I know that the information is here somewhere. Come on already." thought Mia as she was looking through her grandfather's disks. Twenty more minutes passed by and Mia still hasn't found anything that dealt with the nexus.   
  
"I don't believe this, all of the information that my grandfather has collected about the Dynasty, and anything else that would be related to it is coming up empty. This is hopeless, how am I suppose to find a way for them to get out of there if I don't have any of the information?" thought Mia in frustration as she pushed back from her desk and began to pace the room.   
  
'Mia.' a voice called out.  
  
'Who's there? Lightning is that you?' asked Mia in confusion.  
  
'Yes it's me.' replied Lightning.  
  
'Where are you? Do you know what's happening with Kaye and the guys? Are they alright?' asked Mia in concern.  
  
'Mia listen to me, there's not much time. I can't explain where I am, but I can tell you that they are alright so far, but that might change if you don't work fast.' replied Lightning.  
  
'What do you mean? What's happening in the nexus?' asked Mia.  
  
'It looks like they are fighting their armors, and the armors are winning.' replied Lightning.  
  
'No, it can't be happening! Lightning can't you do something?' asked Mia in alarm.  
  
'I'm sorry Mia, but I'm prohibited by the rules from interferring. There's nothing that I can do.' replied Lightning sadly.  
  
'No, I won't believe that, there has to be something that can be done to help them, there has to be.' said Mia in disbelief. 


	13. chapter 13

In the nexus, things were getting more than a little intense. The Ronins and Kaye were not only trying to fight against their own armors, but every once in a while Maji also intervened. "Why don't you just give up and admit defeat?" taunted Maji as he watched the battle.  
  
"Forget it Maji, we don't give up, and we definately won't admit defeat to a low-life like you!" Kaye yelled back as she was trying to dodge away from her armor.   
  
"How dare you speak to me like that!" yelled Maji in anger.  
  
"Get use to it." replied Kaye as she threw a quick glare at him.  
  
"You're going to wish that you have chosen your words more carefully young one." threatened Maji as he began to glow red.   
  
"Smooth Kaye, real smooth." said Sage as he blocked his own armor.  
  
"Well, he ticked me off. What else was I suppose to say?" asked Kaye with a smirk.  
  
"You know something Kaye, you should really work on that temper of yours." said Ryo as he attacked his armor.  
  
"Oh really, you don't say? This coming from the guy that has a temper like an active volcanoe." replied Kaye sarcastically as she attacked her armor. Ryo didn't respond to her remark, or couldn't actually, because now the armors were starting to really turn on the heat.   
  
"Man, I don't believe this! It's totally insane! We're all starting to get at each others throats ever since Maji first appeared. It's like he wants us to fight each other, and not the armors. But why? I don't get it. Somehow, we have to stop fighting each other, and find a way to work together. It's our only chance to get out of this alive." thought Ryo as he continued fighting.  
  
"No, it can't be happening again! Not again!" thought Kento in disbelief as he tried to block an attack from his armor.   
  
"Kento, hey Kento what's wrong?! Hey Cye, why won't Kento answer me?" asked Kaye in concern as she glanced over at his terror stricken face.  
  
"I'm not entirely sure Kaye, but I think that it has to do with him not trusting his armor." replied Cye as he covered her.  
  
"Not trusting his armor? What are you talking about?" asked Kaye in confusion.  
  
"It was a long time ago, when we first encountered Talpa. Kento and I got separated from each other in the subway. Somehow, Dais and Talpa got it into Kento's head that our armors would turn us evil every time that we fight." replied Rowen as he blocked an attack.  
  
"Dammit! Kento come on, snap out of it!" yelled Kaye in his direction. Maji by now has fully powered up and was ready to launch an attack. He was looking around at each one of them, taking his time with picking out his target. Then suddenly he saw the perfect one, Maji got ready, took aim and fired. Kaye quickly looked over at Maji and saw the attack flying towards Kento. There was no time to waste, she knew that if she didn't act fast, that Kento was going to be in a major world of hurt.  
  
"Kento! Watch out!" yelled Kaye as she ran over to him so she could intercept the attack. Kento was so into trying to fight his own armor, that he didn't even hear Kaye yell out to him until it was too late. What happened next felt like it was going in slow motion. Kento turned around and barely saw the attack coming from the corner of his eye. He was about to get out of the way, until someone tackled him to the ground. When Kento opened his eyes to see who tackled him, he saw that Kaye was laying right on top of him barely moving.   
  
"Kento, are you alright?" asked Kaye quietly.  
  
"Yea, thanks to you I am." replied Kento with a smile.  
  
"Good, I would hate to have someting to happen to ya." whispered Kaye as she was having trouble breathing, and then she suddenly stopped.  
  
"Kaye? Kaye? Answer me!" yelled Kento as he was trying to see if she was alright. The fighting between the armors and the others suddenly ceased when they noticed that Kaye wasn't moving.   
  
"Sage, I can barely sense Kaye's life-force! You and the armor of Halo have to help her!" said the Tiger armor urgently.   
  
"Why would you care about what happens to Kaye?" asked Sage as he looked at the Tiger armor angrily.  
  
"Sage, this isn't the time to question why, just do it! We'll cover you." replied the Tiger armor.   
  
"Give me one good reason of why I should trust you at all?" asked Sage angrily.  
  
"Because if you don't, she will die." replied the Halo armor as he motioned over to where Kento was holding onto Kaye.   
  
"Dammit Sage, quit arguing and do it already!" yelled Kento as he gave Sage a very angry glare.  
  
"Well, what's your decision? Are you going to let your friend die?" asked Maji as he gave an evil grin.  
  
"Kento, lay her down. Alright armor of Halo, I'm warning you now. If you try anything funny, he won't be the only one that you'll be dealing with." warned Sage as he motioned over at Kento and the others.  
  
"I'm not going to try anything funny Sage, but if you don't stop your talking, then we'll lose her for sure. Now shut up and concentrate!" replied the armor of Halo as it began to glow. Sage looked towards the others and knew that his armor was right. So he finally closed his eyes and started to concentrate on healing Kaye.  
  
As the guys were watching in anticipation while Sage and his armor were in the process of healing her, the other armors stood protectively in front of them keeping Maji in a safe distance.   
  
"Maji what could you have possibly been thinking, why did you attack them like that?" asked the armor of Wildfire angrily.  
  
"Why, why you ask? You really want to know the reason. Because I can, that's why, and there's nothing that any of you can do about it." replied Maji as he began to laugh evilly.  
  
"Come on Kaye, you can't leave me. Not now!" thought Kento as he and the others watched Sage and the armor of Halo do their thing.  
  
After what seemed like hours, the glow finally faded and both Sage and the armor of Halo fell back from exhaustion.  
  
"Sage, did it work? Is she going to be alright?" asked Cye in concern.  
  
"We'll know soon enough." replied Sage as he stood up from the floor. Slowly Kaye began to show signs of movement. She turned her head, and then opened her eyes and gave a small smile in their direction. The others smiled back at her, forgetting for a minute that they were still in major trouble.  
  
"Hey, what are all of you gawking at?" asked Kaye weakly as she was slowly trying to sit up.   
  
"Kaye, you're back! Your back!" yelled Kento with joy as he slid next to her.  
  
"Back? Where did I go?" asked Kaye in confusion.  
  
"How do you feel Kaye?" asked Rowen as he looked towards her.  
  
"I feel like I've been hit buy a semi, other than that I guess I'm ok." replied Kaye as she was trying to stand up.  
  
"Bravo, bravo I'm impressed by you Sage, and you as well armor of Halo. Well done, now what do you say, since we're all back together again, that we continue the test shall we." said Maji as he began to launch another attack.   
  
Maji launched his attack right into the path of Kaye and Kento, and then he disappeared. There was no time to dodge it, so Kento turned around and shielded Kaye from the attack. "Kento?" whispered Kaye as she looked up towards him.  
  
Kento slowly opened his eyes and looked down at her. "Kaye what happened? How come we didn't get hit?" asked Kento as he was helping her up.  
  
"I think that you better turn around." replied Kaye as she looked behind him in amazement. Kento turned around and couldn't believe his eyes. He saw that the armor of Hardrock took the full force of Maji's attack, and something else that made Kento and the others confused was that the armor didn't even have a single scratch on it.  
  
"Hey are you two alright?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"Ah, yea we're fine. I don't know what to say, except thanks." replied Kento with a grin.  
  
"Yea well, don't expect me to back you up if this happens again." said the armor of Hardrock as it began to walk away.  
  
"What! Hey wait a minute! If you were so against helping us in the first place, then why did you do it?" asked Kento angrily.  
  
The armor of Hardrock stopped, turned around and looked straight at Kento. "Haven't you learned anything from when you battled Talpa the first time? Don't you remember what the Ancient told you when you lost faith in me?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
Kento looked at his armor with a mixture of shock and confusion. "You knew what was going on back then? How?" asked Kento in confusion.  
  
"It doesn't matter how I know. Remember what the Ancient told all of you, he said that you must trust in your armor, it works in according to how you feel. Think about it, and see if that will answer your question." replied the armor of Hardrock as it joined the other armors and disappeared.  
  
"Hey, did anyone see where they disappear to?" asked Ryo as he was looking around for them. 


	14. chapter 14

"None of this is making any sense. Is Maji on our side, or is he just someone else that is trying to get our armors?" thought Sage as he was trying to figure Maji out.  
  
"Hey Sage, earth to Sage, are ya in there?" asked Rowen as he was trying to get his attention.   
  
"Huh, sorry Rowen, did you say something?" asked Sage as he looked over at him.  
  
"Yea, we were wondering what has you so preoccupied." replied Rowen. Sage looked around at them before answering.   
  
"I was trying to figure Maji's angle in all of this." said Sage.  
  
"What's to figure out? I mean this guy has it out for us, and you're wondering who's side he's on?" asked Kento in disbelief.  
  
"I don't think it's that simple Kento." replied Sage as he was trying to keep his cool.  
  
"It's not that simple! Come on Sage, wake up and smell the coffee! Maji definately wants us to fail in this stupid test that he has us doing. Why can't you see that?" asked Kento as he began to get angry.  
  
"Kento, why don't you start using your head for once, instead of always rushing into things! Come on, think about it! Why would Maji have us test us against our own armor?" replied Sage as he glared at him.  
  
"How am I suppose to know, besides blonde, you're asking for it!" threatened Kento angrily.   
  
"Oh really Kento, that's your answer to everything isn't it?" taunted Sage coldly.  
  
"What is that suppose to mean?" asked Kento as he became even more angry.  
  
"It means that you're not happy unless you're in a fight. So come on and let's do this, if you're so eager." taunted Sage as he kept his eyes on him.  
  
"Kento, Sage, both of you stop it! Don't you see what's going on here?" said Kaye as she got inbetween them.   
  
"Kaye move, this is between me and him, now get out of the way." replied Kento coldly as he kept his eyes on Sage.  
  
"No Kento, I'm not going to move. You and Sage have been friends for a long time. Don't go and throw it out of the window just because of a stupid arguement." said Kaye sternly.  
  
"Kaye, Kento's right. It's time that we settled this once and for all." stated Sage coldly as he got ready to fight Kento.   
  
"Bring it on blonde!" taunted Kento as he was ready to fight.  
  
"Kento, Sage don't! Please, don't do this!" pleaded Kaye.  
  
"So what are you going to do Kento? Are you going to let your girlfriend talk to you that way, or are you going to be your own man and fight me?" taunted Sage.  
  
"No one tells me what I can or can't do! Get ready Sage, because here I come!" warned Kento as he threw Kaye back towards the others.   
  
"Kaye, are you alright?" asked Cye as he caught her before she fell.   
  
"I..I think so, Cye what's going on?" asked Kaye quietly as she looked at him while trying to keep her tears from falling.  
  
"I wish that I knew." replied Cye as he tried to comfort her.  
  
Ryo and Rowen were having just about enough of this. They knew that what was going on between Kento and Sage wasn't normal. So just moments before they started to fight, Ryo went behind Kento and Rowen went behind Sage and restrained them.  
  
"Kento, snap out of it! What's gotten into you?" asked Ryo as he was fighting to keep his hold on Kento.  
  
"Sage knock it off! Have you completely took leave of your senses?" asked Rowen as he was also fighting to keep his hold on Sage. The two Ronins stopped fighting and looked at each other in confusion. As soon as Ryo and Rowen noticed that Sage and Kento were back to normal they let them go.  
  
"Would someone tell us what the heck just happened?" asked Sage in confusion.  
  
"You mean that neither of you remember?" asked Rowen as he looked at them.  
  
"The last thing I remember is that my armor was shielding me and Kaye from Maji's last attack; and then when it said something about how our armors react to how we feel, that's it. Why what happened?" asked Kento in confusion.  
  
"You and Sage were about to tear each other apart, and then Kaye stepped inbetween you two and tried to stop ya. Then you threw her back..." replied Rowen as he was trying to explain what recently took place.  
  
"I did what!" said Kento in shock.  
  
"You threw her back towards us, luckily I caught her before she fell." replied Cye as he and Kaye walked up to them.  
  
"Kaye, I'm sorry, are you alright? I didn't mean.." said Kento as he went over to her.   
  
"Yea I'm, I'm fine Kento. It's ok." replied Kaye quietly.  
  
"I think that I know what happened, I'm surprised that none of us thought of it sooner." said Sage as he finally spoke.  
  
"Well Sage are you going to tell us or what?" asked Ryo.  
  
"Maji must have messed with our heads somehow." replied Sage as he crossed his arms across his chest.  
  
"Hey Sage, sorry man." said Kento as he looked at him while trying to comfort Kaye.  
  
"I'm sorry too Kento." replied Sage as he looked back.  
  
"Now that you two have finally buried the hatchet. We still have to find a way to get our armors back, defeat Maji, and find a way home." said Rowen as he brought them back to reality.  
  
"We know Rowen, but until we can figure out what's real and what's not, I say that Maji and the armors have more of a handle on things than we do." replied Ryo as he looked around at them.  
  
Back in Maji's chaimbers, Maji and the armors were having their own conversations. "What could you have been possibly thinking armor of Halo?" asked Maji angrily.  
  
"What do you mean by that Maji?" asked the armor of Halo.  
  
"Why did you help her?" asked Maji as he glared at the armor of Halo.  
  
"What did you want me to do, just let her die?" asked the armor of Halo angrily. Maji didn't give a verbal response to the armor of Halo's question. Instead he walked towards the stand where his magic book was laying open, and he began to leaf through the pages.  
  
"Hey Maji, don't even start to act like we're not here! You still didn't answer the question! Hey, I'm talking to you!" yelled the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"What question was that? Oh I remmeber now, you mean about the one that was about letting her die?" asked Maji as he continued to leaf through the magic book.  
  
"Yea that question! Well, are you going to answer it or what!?" asked the Tiger armor in anger.   
  
"I suppose that I will tell you, since you are all being so insitant about having an answer. Then yes, I wanted you to just let her die. There, are you satisfied?" replied Maji as he continued to read a few spells.  
  
"Why you cold-hearted, son of a ..." said the armor of Hardrock as it started to charge at Maji angrily.  
  
"I would suggest that you back off if you know what's good for you. Besides you're wrong, I'm not cold-hearted, I'm just heartless. Anyway, what do you think that you were doing shielding those two?" asked Maji as he looked up with very cold eyes.  
  
"That's not of your concern. What I do is my business, not yours or anyone elses. You got that!" replied the armor of Hardrock as it glared at Maji.  
  
"Fair enough, now why don't you all just leave. You're making me lose my concentration." said Maji as he looked back down at the magic book. The armors looked at each other with a mixture of anger and confusion. Then they reluctantly decided to leave Maji alone in his chaimber.  
  
"It's what I feared would come to pass. The armors are becoming harder and harder to keep under my control. If I don't do something quick, then they will be reunited with their wearers. Something will have to be done about this." thought Maji as he continued to leaf through his magic book.  
  
In a different part of the nexus, "Who does Maji think he is, ordering us around?" asked the armor of Wildfire.  
  
"I don't know Wildfire, but I do know that this whole test thing is getting way out of control. Something has to be done before it gets way out of hand." said the armor of Strata.  
  
"I have news for ya Strata, it's already way out of hand." replied the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"I agree with Hardrock, what Maji did was totally uncalled for." said the Tiger armor.  
  
"But I thought that this was suppose to be part of the test, right?" asked the armor of Torrent.  
  
"Since when does trying to kill one of the wearers on purpose, part of the test Torrent?" asked the armor of Halo.  
  
"You have a point there, so now what do you propose that we do?" asked the armor of Torrent.  
  
"The way I see it we have two choices, one we can either go along with Maji's plans. Or two, we can team up with the Ronins and Kaye and fight against Maji." suggested the Tiger armor.  
  
"We don't even know what Maji's plans are? He'll probably turn on us in an instant." said the armor of Halo.  
  
"So then are you saying Halo, that we team up with the Ronins and Kaye?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"No, not team up, we join back up with them. They'll going to need their full armor in order to fight." replied the armor of Halo.  
  
"So then what are we waiting for, let's go!" said the armor of Strata as they went to find them.  
  
Unknown to the armors, Maji was listening in on their conversation. "I was wondering what it would take for the armors to turn against me. It looks like that it's time for me to put this new plan into action." thougth Maji before he disappeared. 


	15. chapter 15

Elsewhere, the Ronins and Kaye were trying to figure out their next move. "Rowen, hey Rowen are ya there, hello?" asked Kaye as she was trying to get his attention.  
  
"Huh, Kaye? What's up?" asked Rowen.  
  
"You've been pretty quiet for a while, are you ok?" asked Kaye in concern.  
  
Rowen gave her a small smile, "Yea Kaye I'm fine, I was just thinking." replied Rowen.  
  
"That's Rowen for ya, always thinking. Have ya came up with a plan?" asked Kento.  
  
"Sorry guys, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything yet." replied Rowen.  
  
"Don't worry about it Rowen, I'm sure that you'll figure something." said Sage.  
  
Rowen gave Sage a quick smile and then went back into his thinking mode. "There has to be a way to defeat our armors, but how? How can we beat them without destroying them, and vice versa? Is it possible that Maji wants us to destroy each other? If so, then why? What could he possibly gain if we destroy each other?" thought Rowen as he was trying to analyze the situation.  
  
"Guys?" said Kaye.  
  
"Kaye, what?" asked Sage as he glanced at her.  
  
"Question, why are your sub-armors glowing like that?" asked Kaye in confusion.  
  
"What are you talking about Kaye? The only time our sub-armors glow is when..." replied Sage as he faced her.  
  
"When? When what Sage? When do your sub-armors glow like that?" asked Kaye as she was starting to get annoyed with him.  
  
"When we sense that our armors are close by." replied Ryo as he stood up and began to look around.  
  
"Ok then, so where are they?" asked Kaye as she walked over to Ryo.  
  
"Why don't you turn around, and see for yourself?" said the armor of Wildfire. When everyone turned around, they saw their armors standing right in front of them.  
  
"Great, here we go again." said Kento as he and the others went into defensive position.  
  
"Wait! We don't want to fight you, we've come to talk." said the armor of Torrent.  
  
"How can we be sure that this isn't some kind of trick?" asked Ryo as he kept his eyes on his armor.  
  
"Believe us, it's no trick. We just want to talk to you." replied the Tiger armor.  
  
"Ok, start talking, we're listening." replied Kaye as she crossed her arms across her chest.  
  
"Maji has something major planned, but we're not sure what it is yet." said the armor of Strata.  
  
"You've got to be kidding! None of you know what that jerk is planning? Do you honestly think that we would believe that? Give us a break!" replied Kento in disbelief.  
  
"You are truely a hard head Kento. If we were still teamed up with Maji, wouldn't you think that he would be here too?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"What! I don't believe it, did you hear what my armor called me? My own armor!?" asked Kento in shock.  
  
"Kento, now isn't the time to get into it." replied Ryo as he held back a chuckle.  
  
"But Ryo!" said Kento as he looked at him.  
  
"Hey could the two of you pick a worse time for an arguement? Besides, they're right I don't see Maji around anywhere. So what is it that you wanted to talk with us about?" asked Cye as he was trying to take control of the situation.  
  
"We don't have much time, Maji will be here soon." replied the armor of Halo.  
  
Just then Maji appeared, "Actually Halo, your time has just ran out, and I'm already here!" said Maji with an evil grin.  
  
"I knew it, they're still working together! I knew that we couldn't trust them!" said Kento angrily.  
  
"No you're wrong, we're not working with Maji any more." replied the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"Lies! you were just stalling for time until Maji got here!" said Kento angrily.  
  
"How can you say that? Especially since I saved you and your girlfriend's life when I shielded the two of you from Maji's attack." replied the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"It was just an act, that's all it was, an act." said Kento as he glared at his armor.  
  
"No! Why can't you understand that what I did wasn't an act?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"Then why, why did you save us?" asked Kaye as she stepped up next to Kento.  
  
"Yes Hardrock, I'm sure that all of us are wondering the same question. So why don't you tell us your reason for what you did, or am I going to have to force an explanation out of you?" taunted Maji as he began to glow red.  
  
While everyone was waiting for Hardrock's answer, Maji had his attack ready, and now he was picking out his targets.   
  
"Since you're not going to tell us your reason, then you better get ready to say goodbye." taunted Maji as he was about to fire.  
  
"Wait! You want an answer, fine I'll give you my answer!" replied the armor of Hardrock.  
  
Maji powered down his attack, and then everyone looked towards the armor of Hardrock. "I shielded them from your attack, because, that's what I'm, no all of us are suppose to do. We are suppose to protect the people that are connected with us without question. It's our duty, it has been ever since the Ancient first created us. That's why I shielded them from you Maji. You wanted to know my answer, so there it is. Now what do you say to that, you heartless piece of gutter trash!" explained the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"Interesting, I wonder though, do the rest of you agree with what Hardrock just said?" asked Maji curiously. The armors looked around at each other, and then looked towards Maji.  
  
"Well?" asked Maji as he was starting to get impatient.  
  
"How's this for an answer! Super wave smasher!" yelled the armor of Torrent as he delivered his sure-kill at Maji. The other armors joined in with their sure-kills while the guys and Kaye watched the armors and Maji fight.  
  
"Guys, we have to help them." said Cye.  
  
"Yea we know Cye, but how? Our armors are the ones that have the power to go against Maji, not us." replied Sage.  
  
"That's not the point Sage, and you know it. It took more than just power from our armors to defeat our past enemies. It took brains, strength, determination, heart, and the will to survive. Without all of those things combined, then we would have lost a long time ago. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to help them in any way that I can." said Kaye as she ran into the fight.  
  
"Kaye!" yelled Kento.   
  
"Guys we're not doing any good just standing here. So let's go and back them up already!" said Cye as he ran after her. The other guys looked at each other, gave a quick nod and then joined in the fight as well.  
  
"It's about time, what took ya?" asked Cye as he jumped out of the way.  
  
"Never mind that, in case you didn't notice, we have a major fight on our hands. Kento, check out over there!" said Rowen as he directed Kento's attention to where Maji was going to deliver an attack at the armor of Hardrock.  
  
Kento nodded and ran towards his armor. Just as Maji fired, the armor of Hardrock stood there ready to take on the full attack. But just before it hit, something from behind tackled him making Maji's attack fly past them.   
  
"I don't believe it, you actually saved me? Why?" asked the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"What's so hard to believe? You saved me and Kaye, so I thought that I would return the favor. Besides I finally figured out what you were telling me about how my armor, you would be able to work in according to how I feel." replied Kento with a grin.  
  
"So it is true, you did actually learn something after all." said the armor of Hardrock.  
  
"Hey!" replied Kento in mock annoyance.  
  
"If you two are done with socializing, then would you hurry up and get over here?" asked Rowen as he and his armor got out of the way of Maji's attack.  
  
"Come on let's go and kick some major butt." said Kento as he reached down to help his armor up. As soon as Hardrock grabbed onto Kento's hand, they both glowed a really bright orange, and the two finally became one.  
  
"Alright! Hey guys check it out, Kento has his armor back!" yelled Kaye in excitement.   
  
"Yea and now it's payback! Hey Maji get ready because you're going down! Iron rock..." yelled Kento as he got ready to deliver his sure-kill.   
  
"No it can't be possible, he passed his part of the test! Now there's no way that I can take his armor away from him. I can't let the rest of them reunite with their armors. There has to be a way for me to prevent them from reuniting! But how? If that happens, then it wouldn't take them long to figure out how to get back to their home. I have to retreat for now, and come up with a new plan before it's too late." thought Maji as he disappeared.  
  
"Man, he got away again! I wish that he would stop disappearing like that, it's getting really old really fast." thought Kento in annoyance.  
  
"Kento, you did it!" said Kaye in excitement as she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Kento smiled and gave Kaye a major squeeze and then let her down next to him. The others just shook their heads in amazement.  
  
"I hate to be raining on the parade here, but only one of you has reunited with your armor. We still have a long ways to go yet before we're all reunited. So I suggest that we stop haning around here and find somewhere so we can figure out how to get the rest of us back together." said the armor of Strata.  
  
"You do have a point there, but in case you've forgotten, we don't exactly know our way around here." replied Rowen.  
  
"No we didn't forget about that, but we know how the nexus works. So we'll be able to find places to hide out until we can figure out our next move." replied the armor of Halo as it lead the way to a safe haven. 


	16. chapter 16

"Are you sure that we're safe here?" asked Sage as he looked around.  
  
"I'm positive, Maji doesn't know about this part of the nexus." replied the armor of Strata.  
  
"So now what, are we just keep on running?" asked Kento as he began to get a little annoyed.  
  
"Until we come up with a plan, there's nothing that we can do. Besides Kento, you're the only one that has been reunited with your armor." said Rowen.  
  
"Yea so." replied Kento as he crossed his arms.  
  
Then for no reason, Kento's armor began to glow. "Kento! Your armor!" said Cye as he looked over at him wide eyed.  
  
"What about my armor?" Kento asked.  
  
"It's glowing." Kaye replied as she also looked over at him.  
  
"Why is it doing that?" asked the armor of Torrent.  
  
"Ah guys." Kento said as he was trying to get their attention.  
  
"Not now Kento." Ryo replied.  
  
"Guys!" yelled Kento as he finally got their attention.  
  
"Kento you're fading!" said Kaye as she ran over to him.  
  
"Kaye, stay back!" warned Rowen as he grabbed for her arm.  
  
"What's going on, why is he fading?" Ryo asked as he looked over to his armor.  
  
"So it is true. I wasn't sure until now, but it is." said the armor of Wildfire.  
  
"What's true? What are you talking about?" Cye asked in confusion.  
  
"What Wildfire is saying, is that when a wearer passes their test, and is reunited with the armor. Then they are allowed to go back home." replied the armor of Strata.  
  
"Are you serious? Is that all it takes for us to get home is to be reunited?" Sage asked.  
  
"Hey wait a minute here, you mean that I don't have a choice about going back. I'm not just going to leave my friends behind, there's gotta be a way that I can stay here and help them. Maybe I can call back my armor, and..." Kento said as he started to call it back.  
  
"Wait! If you call back your armor, then you'll be defenseless, and you won't be able to call upon it until everyone is back with theirs." warned the Tiger armor.  
  
"Then what do you suggest that I do, go back home and just leave them here?" Kento asked angrily.  
  
"Kento, they're right. You have to go back, and help Mia think of a way to get us all out of here." Kaye said as she looked straight into his eyes.  
  
"Kaye, I can't leave you and the guys here. What about Maji, he's still out there waiting for you." Kento replied.  
  
"It looks like you don't exactly have a choice in the matter, now does it? Don't worry Kento, we'll be ok." Cye said as he stood by Kaye.  
  
Kento nodded and then in a flash of light he disappeared. "Well now what is our next move, or are we waiting until Maji makes his first?" Sage asked as he looked towards his armor.  
  
"Whatever is going to happen, it better happen soon, because I have a bad feeling that we're running out of time." Rowen said.  
  
In the different part of the nexus. Maji was watching them through his mirror. "Those fools actually think that I don't know where they are. I know this place inside and out, there's no where that they can hide." Maji thought as he gave an evil grin.  
  
'Maji, what's the meaning of this?' Lightning asked as the tiger appeared behind him.   
  
'Lightning, it's good to see you again. What business brings you to the nexus?' Maji asked as he kept his eyes on the mirror.  
  
'you know why I'm here.' Lightning replied as he walked up to him.  
  
'I do?' Maji asked.  
  
'Don't play innocent with me, I know what you've been doing during the test. You've gone too far this time. You had no call for what you just pulled!' Lightning replied angrily.  
  
'Yes perhaps I did go a little too far this time, but I would have to admit that it was rather amusing to watch.' Maji said with an evil smirk.  
  
'What's happened to you Maji? You weren't always like this.' Lightning asked in confusion.  
  
'Like what old friend?' Maji replied as his voice grew cold.  
  
'You getting pleasure out of killing someone. A long time ago, you would never do such a thing, so why now?' Lightning asked.  
  
'Over time I grew tired of being merciful. So I've decided that it's time for me to make a change. One day, I was approached by someone on the street that said he had an interesting proposal for me. At first I was very skeptical, and then I started to walk away. But the stranger followed me wherever I went, and so I decided to listen to what he had to say. To say the least, he definately peaked my interest. I thought about it for a short while, and then I accepted. The stranger seemed pleased with my decision, and then it was done. The stranger began to chant some kind of spell that I couldn't recognize, and then he took out my heart. To say the least, I was very surprised that I was still alive. I asked him how this was possible. He told me that it wasn't of my concern, that my heart was his payment. So now do you understand why I acted liked I did?' Maji asked as he glanced over at the tiger.  
  
'You're insane! How could you strike such a bargan? What could you have possibly been thinking?' Lightning asked angrily.  
  
'Actually, I should ask what could of you been thinking, when you've became close with the wearer of the Tiger armor? That's so unlike you Lightning. You've never formed any close bonds with the previous wearers, so why this one?' Maji asked with an evil smirk.  
  
'It's none of your business! Besides, I'm not the one who's on trial. Now you better just back off with whatever you have planned or else." Lightning warned.  
  
'I don't think so. There's nothing that you can do to stop me. Anyway, if you do try and interfere with the test, then what's there to say that something unfortunate might happen to the person that wears the Tiger armor?' Maji replied with an evil grin.  
  
'You wouldn't.' Lightning replied as he growled.  
  
'Try me and find out, but maybe a demonstration is in order. Now let's see what can I do to convince you that I'm not bluffing. Ah yes, that will do nicely, Lightning if I were you, I would pay close attention to what is about to happen.' Maji said as he looked into the mirror.   
  
"Hey guys, does anyone have any idea of what are these things?" Kaye asked as she and the others were trying to fight them off.   
  
"No idea, but I can guess where they came from." Rowen replied as he ducked.  
  
"There's too many, we have to get out of here." Cye said as he jumped out of the way.  
  
"Where are we suppose to go Cye? In case you didn't notice, we don't exactly have a lot of options." Sage replied as he blocked an attack.  
  
"Over there, there's a bridge maybe we can get to it before these things do." Rowen said as he lead the way. The others took a quick glance at each other and then took off after Rowen.   
  
"It looks like they have the same idea Rowen, 'cause here they come." Kaye said as she took a quick look back.  
  
"Move! We have to get to the bridge before they do." Ryo said as he caught up with Rowen. As they continued to get closer to it, the creatures that were chasing them were shooting some type of arrows.  
  
"Hey, who taught these guys how to shoot? They couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, even if they were five feet in front of it." Cye said as he ducked from some incoming arrows.  
  
"There it is, come on we have to cross it!" Rowen said as they were almost to the base of the bridge. Just as they were going to cross it, a huge arrow was shot from behind and it hit the middle of the bridge making it break in half.   
  
They skidded to a stop and stood wide eyed at the big gaping whole that was once the center of the bridge. "What were you saying about their aim Cye?" Sage asked as he glanced over at him.  
  
"Never mind, now what are we suppose to do? Our only escape from these things is shot, and they're catching up." Cye asked as he and the others looked back.  
  
"I still say that the bridge is our only chance. Were gonna have to jump across." Rowen said.  
  
"What! Are you out of your mind?" Kaye asked as she looked over to him skeptically.  
  
"Unless you want to stay here and face them, then I would suggest that we get a move on." Rowen replied.   
  
Kaye took a quick look between the damaged bridge and the creatures that were still coming. "Let's see, stay here and fight these things, or when we get home, eat Rowen's cooking." Kaye replied as she weighed the options.   
  
"Hey! I heard that." Rowen said.  
  
The creatures were getting closer and closer. "Are you sure Rowen that this is the only way?" Kaye asked as she glanced nervously at the huge whole.  
  
"Unless you have a better idea, then yea this is the only way." Rowen replied.   
  
"We're wasting time arguing, so let's just go already." Ryo said as he backed up to get a running start for the jump. When he got far enough back, Ryo took off and jumped to the other side with no problems.   
  
"Come on, what are you waiting for, those things are still coming?" Ryo yelled from across the bridge. Sage went next, then Cye and that only left Rowen and Kaye.   
  
"Ah Rowen, I know that this isn't the time to tell ya." Kaye said nervously.  
  
"Tell me what?" Rowen asked.  
  
"I'm not exactly the best one to do the long jump. What if I come up short, and then I start to fall?" Kaye replied.  
  
"You won't fall, and besides I have an idea to make sure that you don't." Rowen said with a comforting smile.  
  
"Oh yea, and what's that mr. genius?" Kaye asked as she glanced over at him.  
  
"We'll jump together, just take my hand and trust me." Rowen replied.  
  
"Hey, are you two coming? Those things are almost there!" Cye yelled from the other side.  
  
"Well? Are you going to trust me?" Rowen asked as he extened out his hand.   
  
"Let's do it." Kaye replied as she took his hand and got ready to jump. They took off as fast as they could, just as they launched off of the bridge one of the creatures grabbed onto Kaye's ankle and pulled her back.   
  
"Rowen!" Kaye yelled as he landed on the other side.   
  
"No, dammit! We have to go back and get her!" Rowen said as he was about to go back.  
  
"Rowen, wait. The bridge is starting to collapse, there has to be another way to get to her." Sage replied.  
  
"Dammit Sage, we don't have time to wait! I told Kaye that she could trust me. I don't care what you say, I'm going back." Rowen replied.  
  
"Hey, let go! What do you think that you're doing?!" Kaye yelled as she was trying to get out of the creature's grip. The creature raised her above his head and walked over to the whole.  
  
"Kaye!" Ryo yelled as the creature threw her into the whole. Just as Ryo yelled, their armors appeared out of nowhere.  
  
As Kaye was falling, her kanji on her chain and forhead quickly flared, and only one person came to mind. "Kento." she thought as she continued to fall. 


	17. chapter 17

While Kaye was falling, at the same time in the Koji mansion Kento's kanji on his forhead and chain also flared. His eyes went wide with shock, while he dropped his glass that he was holding. Mia ran into the kitchen when she heard the loud crash. "Kento what's wrong?!" Mia asked as she ran over to him.  
  
"Mia, something happened in the nexus. I heard Kaye's voice in my head, and then for a split second I could see her, it looked like she was falling. AAAHHHH!" Kento replied as he clutched his head from the pain. Mia quickly took Kento to a nearby chair and sat him down.   
  
In the nexus, "She trusted me, how could I of let her down like that?" Rowen thought.  
  
"Instead of beating yourself up over what happened, why don't we just go down after her." replied the armor of Strata. Rowen gave a quick look back at his friends and jumped in with his armor.  
  
"Rowen!" Sage yelled as he and the others watched him and his armor dive over the side.   
  
"Rowen are you out of your mind?" Kaye yelled as she spotted Rowen and his armor diving towards her.   
  
"Kaye hold on, we're coming." Rowen yelled as they were getting closer.  
  
"What do you think that you're doing?" Kaye yelled back.  
  
"We're going to get you back up there! Kaye you have to try and grab for my hand!" Rowen yelled as he reached for her. Kaye started to reach for his hand, but he was barely out of reach.  
  
"You're too far! I can't reach you!" Kaye yelled.  
  
"Keep trying, come on!" Rowen yelled as he tried to grab her hand.  
  
"There has to be another way. Wait a minute, that's it why didn't I think of this before." thought the armor of Strata.   
  
"Hey! What the?" Kaye said as she felt something fly by her.  
  
"Kaye what is it?" Rowen asked.  
  
"I felt something fly by me, Rowen I think that it was your armor. But what is it going to do?" Kaye asked as she looked at him.  
  
"I think that I know, Kaye you have to stay in line with it, trust me. Everything will be alright." Rowen replied.   
  
Kaye nodded, "I hope that this works." Rowen thought.  
  
Meanwhile on top of the bridge, "can anybody see them?" Cye asked as he and the others were trying to get a fix on them.  
  
"No, I can't see anything. Wait a minute, I think that I see something." Ryo said as he looked down further. A bright dark blue light flared for about a minute, and then it went dark again.  
  
"What was that?" Cye asked.  
  
"I think that I know, and you won't believe what I'm seeing now." Sage replied with a grin as he spotted Rowen and Kaye in one of his energy fields. The two floated down to where the others were, and the energy field disappeared.  
  
In the kitchen of the Koji mansion, Kento slowly opened his eyes and looked up at a very concerned Mia.   
  
"Kento, are you alright?" Mia asked.  
  
"Yea Mia, I'm fine." Kento replied as he laid back in his chair.  
  
At the bridge in the nexus, "Rowen, Kaye you're both alright!" Ryo said in excitement.  
  
"Yea, man that was definately an E-ticket ride. Remind me never to do that ever again ok." Kaye replied with a small smile.  
  
"Ok, now are you going to tell us why you pulled a disappearing act on us or what?" Ryo asked as he glared at the armors.  
  
"We were forbidden to interfere with that part of the test. If we did, then the outcome would have been much worse." replied the armor of Wildfire.  
  
"Worse? How could it of been any worse than what just happened? On second thought, don't tell me I don't want to know." Kaye replied.  
  
"Hey guys, it looks like it's my turn to leave." Rowen said as his armor began to glow and he began to fade.  
  
"Rowen thanks for the save, I owe you one!" Kaye said as she and the others watched him go back home. Back at the kitchen, a bright dark blue light flashed blinding Mia and Kento for a few seconds, and then it calmed down.   
  
"Rowen, is that you?" Kento asked as he and Mia took down their hands from their eyes.  
  
"Well yea, who else would it be?" Rowen asked as he called back his armor.  
  
"Rowen, what's been going on in the nexus? Is everyone alright?" Mia asked as he sat down at the table.  
  
"It's a long story, but yea everyone is just fine." Rowen replied as he got them up to speed.  
  
"Good, I'm glad that everyone is ok." Kento replied as he got up and grabbed his jacket.  
  
"Kento, where are you going?" Mia asked as he opened the door.  
  
"I'm just going to be outside for a while, don't worry I'll be back soon." Kento replied as he shut the door behind him.  
  
"Mia, what's with him?" Rowen asked as he looked over at her curiously.  
  
"I think that he somehow had some kind of vision." Mia replied.  
  
"What kind of vision?" Rowen asked.  
  
"He said that he heard Kaye in his head, and then for a split second he saw her falling from somewhere. Then he yelled while clutching his head in pain. Just before you came back, he seemed like he was ok again." Mia explained.  
  
"I see." Rowen said as he got up from his chair and grabbed for his jacket.  
  
"Rowen now where are you going?" Mia asked as he also went to the door.  
  
"I think that Kento and I need to talk." Rowen replied as he went after Kento.   
  
Back in the nexus, 'How did you like the show? I hope that it was suspenseful enough for you.' Maji taunted.  
  
'You will pay for that, and I will make sure of it personally.' Lightning warned as he was about to take a swipe at him.  
  
'I wouldn't if I were you, my old friend unless if you want something else to happen to her. Besides you're in no position to be making threats. Now unless you let me do the tests my way, nothing more too tragic will happen. But if you interfere, let's just say that I don't think that I'll be able to guarantee her safety. Are we clear?' Maji asked.  
  
'Yes I understand.' Lightning replied as he backed away from him.  
  
'Now that's a good tiger. Don't you think that you should get back to the other elders and continue to watch the test?' Maji asked.   
  
Just as Lightning was about to leave, he turned around and faced him again. 'Maji don't forget about what I said. Somehow, I will make you pay for what you've done.' Lightning warned as he left Maji's chaimber.  
  
"That tiger! How dare he threaten me! Who does he think he is anyway? Doesn't he see that I'm in total control? As long as I keep the Dream Walker here in the nexus, then he can't touch me." Maji said as he kicked something out of the way.  
  
"What's this? I haven't seen one of these in an extremely long time. It could provide to be useful later. I think that it's time for me to put in another appearance." Maji thought as he put the object into his pocket and then disappeared.  
  
"It looks like those things suddenly stopped. But why?" Ryo asked as he looked back towards the bridge.   
  
"Ryo, I think that he's your answer to why." Sage replied as he saw that Maji appeared.  
  
"Well done, I was wondering on who was going to be the next one to pass the test. It's too bad that my creatures didn't serve their purpose, well I suppose that they no longer deserve to live." Maji said as he blew up the bridge that the creatures were standing on.  
  
"How could you do that? They were alive, how can you just take their lives away just like they were nothing?" Kaye asked as she charged at him.  
  
"Kaye, don't!" Cye said as he got a hold of her.  
  
"Easy, but I'm surprised that you, you of all people, would show compassion towards those creatures that threw you over the bridge and into the abyss." Maji replied coldly.  
  
"Maji! You will pay for everything that you've done!" Kaye warned as she looked at him angrily.  
  
"Interesting, that's almost the exact words that a particular tiger said to me not too long ago." Maji replied with a smirk.  
  
"Lightning? What did you do? Tell me, what did you do?!" Kaye said as she glared at him.  
  
"He's fine, I didn't lay a hand on the tiger. For some reason, he seems to be quite concerned about you my dear. Why is that I wonder. Oh I know, maybe it's because I've told him to stay out of my way, or else something unfortunate might happen to you." Maji taunted with a laugh.  
  
"Hey pal, that's enough! You can just back off right there! Because if you don't I'll make sure that you'll never be able to leave here ever again!" Cye said as his eyes blazed with anger.  
  
"This isn't like you Cye of the Torrent. Even though I find your outburst rather amusing. Anyway, I believe that the next test is going to begin soon, so I would suggest that you figure out how to pass this one before it's too late." Maji said as he disappeared.  
  
"Coward!" Ryo yelled nowhere in particular.  
  
"Cye, you can let go now." Kaye said.  
  
"Oh, yea sorry." Cye replied as he had a slight blush.  
  
"It's ok, um Cye, mind if I ask ya something?" Kaye asked as they started to walk in no particular direction.  
  
"I guess not, what did you want to know?" Cye asked curiously.  
  
"Ever since I've met you guys, I've never seen you lose your cool. So I guess what I'm asking is what made you finally, please don't take this the wrong way, but to finally snap?" Kaye asked as the stopped.  
  
Cye started to chuckle at her question, "what's so funny?" Kaye asked as she gave him a curious look.  
  
"Your question." Cye replied.  
  
"What do you mean?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Think about it for a minute. When we all met, we've became rather close right. Well, ever since Kento told me how he felt. I made him a promise that if for some reason you two would get separated, I would watch over you. Besides, you make him very happy, and if something did happen to you, then Kento would be one of the most difficult people to live with." Cye replied with a smile.   
  
Kaye laughed a little, "ok I see your point. I promise to be careful from now on." Kaye replied with a smile.   
  
"Now that's better, come on let's go find Ryo and Sage before anything else happens." Cye said as they went to look for them. Just as Kaye was going to respond, they heard a fight breaking out not too far away.  
  
"It sounds like Ryo and Sage are going to need some back up." Kaye said as they took off towards the fight. 


	18. chapter 18

In the backyard of the Koji mansion, Rowen finally caught up with Kento. "Rowen, there's something that I have to know, and you're the only one that can tell me." Kento said as he leaned back onto an old tree.  
  
"What did you want to know? I'm guessing that it has to do something with the vision that you saw. Am I right?" Rowen asked as he looked at his friend in concern.  
  
"Yea, Rowen what I saw, did it really happen? Did Kaye really fall from some kind of bridge, and into some type of abyss?" Kento asked.  
  
Rowen waited for a bit before confirming Kento's question. "Yea she did, but it was my fault." Rowen replied quietly.  
  
Kento quickly looked over at Rowen, he was confused about why it would of been his fault for what happened. "Rowen, what do you mean?" Kento asked.  
  
Before he spoke, Rowen pulled in a deep breath and then began, "out of nowhere, these creatures were chasing us. I spotted a bridge not too far off, so I thought that we could cross it and then somehow blow it up so they wouldn't be able to follow. But it turned out that they had pretty much the same idea. Because just as we got there, they blew up the center of the bridge. The creatures were still coming, I said that we had to jump across. To say the least, Kaye wasn't too thrilled about the idea. I told her to hold onto my hand and we'll jump together. Just as we took off, one of the creatures grabbed onto her, and pulled her back to them. I landed on the other side, and then she told them to let go. Well they let go alright, one of the creatures held her up above it's head and threw her over the side. It was all my fault." Rowen said as he lowered his head and closed his eyes.  
  
Kento at first was shocked when he listened to Rowen's story. Then he raised his hand and laid it onto Rowen's shoulder. "Rowen, it wasn't your fault." Kento said as he tried to make him feel less guilty.  
  
Rowen slowly raised his head, "how can you say it's not my fault? I'm the one that suggested the bridge, I'm the one that couldn't hang on to her." Rowen replied.  
  
"That's enough. I know you did all that you could do. I also know that Kaye is alright, thanks to you. So if you don't stop blaming yourself, I'm gonna have to pound some sense into ya." Kento said with a wink.  
  
"How did you know that I..?" Rowen asked with a hint of shock.  
  
"Well how else would ya have gotten your armor back? I mean come on Rowen, I'm not that stupid." Kento replied with a smirk.  
  
"Ok Kento you've made your point. Come on, let's get back inside, I'm sure that Mia is wondering what's taking us so long." Rowen said as he started on his way back to the mansion. Kento stayed a little bit longer, and then he went back to the mansion.  
  
In the nexus, "Ryo, Sage where are you?" Cye yelled as he and Kaye were trying to find them.  
  
"Cye, I don't like this, something isn't right. We weren't gone for but a few minutes, and then they disappear?" Kaye said.  
  
"I know, I don't like it either. Wait a minute, do you hear that?" Cye asked.  
  
"It sounds like swords, but from where?" Kaye replied as they continued to look around.  
  
"Over there, in that building!" Cye said as they ran up to it. When they got to the building, they tried the doors, but only to find them locked.  
  
"Great, now how are we suppose to get inside?" Kaye asked as she was looking around for another entrance.  
  
"Kaye come here, there's an open window. We can climb through and get in that way." Cye replied.  
  
"Cye wait! What if this turns out to be another one of Maji's tests?" Kaye asked as she hesitated.  
  
"We don't exactly have a choice. I know that they're in there, so let's go." Cye replied as he began to climb up to the window. As Kaye watched him climb, she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right about this, but she also knew that he was right, so she decided to follow him.   
  
"Well we're in, now what?" Kaye asked as she and Cye began to look around.  
  
"It's too dark in here to see where we're going. We need some light if we're going to search this place." Cye replied.   
  
Just as Cye said that, the torches lit up. "Ok now that was just a little too creepy for me." Kaye said.  
  
"We don't have time for this, we have to find them. I know that they're in here. Ryo, Sage if you can hear me, say something!" Cye yelled.   
  
No answer, "that's just great, ok now we have a problem. From what I can see, there are two corridors to choose, so which one?" Kaye asked as she motioned between them.  
  
"It would of been easier to choose from if they would of answered. I don't think that we should split up, we better stay together." Cye replied.  
  
"I know, I agree with ya Cye. But what if we pick the wrong one? What's gonna happen?" Kaye asked as she looked at him.  
  
"I'm not sure, but if we pick the wrong one, then we just double back and try the other corridor. One of them has to lead to Ryo and Sage." Cye replied. Kaye nodded and followed Cye, both of them not knowing what lies ahead.  
  
In the different part of the building, Ryo and Sage were trying to get a handle on their problem. "Ryo, where the heck are we, and where did these creatures come from?" Sage asked as they were fighting.  
  
"I'm not sure, but a more important question is, where are Cye and Kaye?" Ryo asked in concern.  
  
"The two of you should be more concerned about what's going to happen to you, instead of worrying about where your two friend are at the moment." a voice replied in the shadows.  
  
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Sage yelled.   
  
"Very well, if you're going to be so insitant about it." the voice replied as it came from the shadows.   
  
"Maji, should of known it was you. What do you want?" Ryo asked angrily.  
  
"I've came to the two of you with a proposal." Maji replied as he held up his hand for the creatures to stop their attacks.  
  
"What kind of proposal?" Sage asked as he kept his eyes on him.  
  
"A proposal that would guarantee you a way home without going through any more tests." Maji replied with an evil smile.  
  
"Oh really, and what kind of proposal would you be willing to give us? Let me guess, you'll let us go home, but we have to leave Cye and Kaye here." Ryo said angrily.  
  
"Yes, something to that effect. So what do you say? Will you take my proposal?" Maji asked curiously.  
  
"You must be out of your mind." Sage replied coldly.  
  
"What! You're actually willing to pass this up. Why?" Maji asked as he shot back in surprise.  
  
"Explaining why would be a waste of time. Especially on a bone head like you. So why don't you just give it up, and crawl back into whatever whole you came out of?" someone said from the balcony.  
  
"What! Who said that?" Maji yelled as he looked around angrily.  
  
"I did, do ya have a problem with that, because if ya do, then I'll be more than happy to say it to you again." the same voice replied.  
  
"Kaye?" Ryo asked as he and Sage looked up towards the balcony.  
  
"Well yea, who else would it be?" Kaye replied with a smirk.  
  
"Kaye, is Cye with you?" Sage asked.  
  
"Yea I'm here too, at first we were kinda confused on which way to go, but as soon as you got this oversized windbag to talk, then it was easy to find you." Cye replied as he and Kaye jumped from the balcony next to Ryo and Sage.  
  
"You insolent curr! How dare you speak to me like that! You'll pay!" Maji replied angrily.  
  
"You're all talk and no action." Sage said as they got ready to fight.  
  
"Careful Sage, you're starting to sound like Kento." Kaye teased as she glanced at him.  
  
"We don't want that now do we? One Kento is scary enough." Sage replied with a smirk.  
  
"When we get back home, I'll make sure to tell him you said that." Kaye said.  
  
"Hey you two, mind if we continue this some other time. In case you forgot, we've got some unfinished business to take care of." Ryo said as he got ready to attack.  
  
"Besides, he called me a dog, there's no way that I'm gonna let him get away with that!" Cye said as he kept his eyes on Maji.  
  
"Alright then, if we're gonna do this, then I think that we better attack in two teams. Cye, you and Kaye stay close, and attack him from the front, while Sage and I come around back." Ryo replied as they got ready to put Ryo's plan into action.   
  
Everyone nodded and got into place, "What do you think that you're doing? Do you honestly think that whatever you have in mind will work against me?" Maji asked as he looked around the dimly lit room trying to find them.  
  
"Hope so, ready Cye?" Kaye asked as they got ready for a frontal attack. Cye nodded and then in a blink of an eye, they began their attack. Maji barely saw them coming, he quickly moved back, but only to run into Sage and Ryo, who were coming from behind. Just before the four of them were going to land their attacks, he disapearred.   
  
"What! No way! Where did he go? There's no possible way that he could of known that we were going to do that." Cye asked as they were looking around for him.   
  
"Cye, Kaye watch out!" Sage warned as Maji appeared behind them. But Sage's warning came a split second too late, just as they were going to turn around, something wrapped around them so that they couldn't move.  
  
"What are these things?" Kaye asked as she and Cye were struggling to get out of them.   
  
"They're sutra beads, the more you struggle, the tighter that they become. So you had better stop struggling before they crush the life out of you." Maji replied coldly.  
  
"He's not kidding, I can barely breathe." Cye said as he fell to his knees.  
  
"Cye! Stop it Maji, did you hear me? I said...AAAHHH!" Kaye said as she was shocked by an electrical current that went through the sutra beads.  
  
"That's enough! Maji, if you know what's good for you, you'll let them go right now!" Ryo said angrily as he glared towards him.  
  
"If you insist." Maji replied as he motioned for the sutra beads to disappear from them.   
  
"Cye, Kaye are you two alright?" Sage asked as he and Ryo rushed up to them. They nodded while glaring angrily over at Maji.  
  
"Remember about that proposal that I gave before?" Maji asked.  
  
"Yea so, what about it?" Ryo asked angrily.  
  
"This time I have a different one in mind, and I believe that you'll think twice about passing it up." Maji replied as he gave an evil grin. 


	19. chapter 19

"What's going on Maji? What's your angle?" Kaye asked as they kept their eyes on Maji.  
  
"Angle? Why, I don't know what you mean. You don't trust me?" Maji asked in mock surprise.  
  
"Trust you? Why should we trust someone that took our armors away from us in the first place?"   
Ryo asked as he glared at him.  
  
"Fine, if you don't want your armors back, then just say so. But remember this, if you don't reclaim them, then well let's just say it'll be the last decision that you'll ever make." Maji replied with a smirk.  
  
"It looks like we don't have a choice. All right Maji, you win. What do we have to do in order for you to give us our armors back?" Kaye asked in annoyance.  
  
"All you have to do is fight me." Maji replied with an evil smirk.  
  
"That's it?" Sage asked as he glared at him.  
  
"That's it, unless of course you don't think that you can." Maji replied.  
  
"Something's not right. Why is he doing this?" Kaye wondered as she glanced at him. Maji caught her glance, and then he gave her a cold grin that made shivers go up and down her spine.   
  
"Well Ronins, what is your answer? Are you going to take back your armors and fight me? Or are you going to decline my gracious offer?" Maji asked as he kept his gaze on her.  
  
"What do you think?" Ryo replied sarcastically.  
  
"Good, I knew that you would. Armors, return to your wearers!" Maji ordered as they were reunited with their respected armors.   
  
Just as the armors were reunited with their wearers, Maji began to laugh manically. "What's so funny Maji?" Sage asked as he glared at him.  
  
"I just realized something, four against one isn't quiet fair. So why don't we have it four   
against two. Lightning come!" Maji replied as the tiger appeared beside him.   
  
'Lightning? Lightning, why aren't you answering me?' Kaye asked in confusion.   
  
"Kaye, what's wrong?" Ryo asked as he looked at her.  
  
"It's Lightning, he's not responding." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Of course he's not responding to you dream walker. He's under my control now." Maji said as he smirked.  
  
"How is that possible?" Sage asked in confusion.  
  
"Actually it wasn't that hard of a thing to do. I gave him his own armor, so whatever I wish he will do without question." Maji replied as he stroked the top of the tiger's head.  
  
"You're lying, Lightning would never..." Kaye replied angrily as she glared at him.  
  
"Oh but he will my dear, and to prove what I'm saying, Lightning attack." Maji said as he pointed over to them.   
  
"Scatter!" Ryo yelled as Lightning charged at them.   
  
"Cye, you and Kaye go after Maji. While we try and figure out how to help Lightning." Sage said as he and Ryo faced the tiger.   
  
"Sage..." Kaye replied, as she was about to object.  
  
"Kaye come on, Sage and Ryo know what they're doing. Besides, this is our chance to go after Maji." Cye said.   
  
Kaye nodded; she knew that he was right. "Maji, you're mine!" Kaye yelled in anger as she charged at him.   
  
"Is this rage that I'm sensing?" Maji asked mockingly as he braced himself for Kaye's attack.  
  
"No, this is!" Kaye replied as she went out full force throwing every kick and punch that she knew. Maji blocked her attacks like they were nothing, but Kaye wouldn't quit, she just kept on going. Just as she was going to throw out another kick, Maji grabbed her leg and threw her. Cye saw Kaye flying across the room, she was just about to hit the wall, and until the very last second he caught her.  
  
"Kaye are you alright?" Cye asked as he looked at her in concern. Kaye slowly opened her eyes and saw that instead of being smashed into the wall, she was being held by Cye.   
  
"Yea I think so, thanks Cye." Kaye replied with a small smile.  
  
"I have a suggestion." Cye said as he helped her up.  
  
"Oh yea and what's that?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Instead of taking this guy solo, why don't you let me help ya take him down? You're not the only one that has a grudge against him you know." Cye replied with a smirk.  
  
"So then why are we just standing around here for, let's go get him." Kaye replied with a grin.   
  
Cye nodded and then he and Kaye took off after Maji. While that was going on, Ryo and Sage were having a bit more difficulty than they thought.  
  
"Ryo we have to figure out something soon or we're going to be that tiger's next meal." Sage said as he jumped back.  
  
"I know Sage, but what can we do?" Ryo asked as he avoided Lightning's attack.  
  
"How am I supposed to know? You're the other one besides Kaye that knows how to handle tigers, you figure it out." Sage replied.  
  
"Are you kidding? What makes you think that Lightning will listen? I have a hard time making White Blaze listen to me." Ryo said as he kept his eyes on the tiger.   
  
'What am I doing? I don't want to fight them, but I have no choice. Maji has control over me, and it's all because of this stupid armor.' Lightning thought as he tried to regain control over himself.  
  
"Ryo, I have an idea." Sage said as he keeps his eyes on the tiger.  
  
"Whatever your idea is, you had better hurry it up." Ryo replied in annoyance.  
  
"Ryo, I'm going to need you to keep Lightning busy, while I see if there's a way to get that armor off of him." Sage said as he brought up his nodachi and closed his eyes.  
  
"What! How am I supposed to do that?" Ryo asked angrily.  
  
"You'll figure something out." Sage replied as he began to concentrate on his task.  
  
"You'll figure something out he says, come on Ryo think. There has to be something that you can do. Lightning, hey! Yea you, you crazy tiger! Come over here, come on that's it." Ryo said as he coaxed the tiger over to him.  
  
"Come on, there has to be a weakness somewhere. Now where is it? Wait a minute, what's that?"   
Sage wondered as he spotted a crack in the armor.  
  
"Hey Sage would you hurry it up already. I don't know how long I can hold up against him." Ryo said.  
  
"Ryo, move! Thunder..bolt..cut!" Sage said as he delivered his sure-kill towards the crack in the tiger's armor. Sage's attack hit dead on the target, the armor fell off and Lightning returned back to normal.   
  
"Sage how?" Ryo asked as he looked at Sage in confusion.  
  
"I noticed that there was a small crack, I'm guessing that Maji created that armor in a hurry and didn't notice it." Sage explained. Just then Lightning gave a loud roar of pain, and fell to the ground barely breathing.   
  
"Lightning!" Kaye exclaimed as she started to take off towards the tiger. But just before she could go any further, Maji appeared and blocked her from getting to the tiger.   
  
"And where do you think that you're going?" Maji asked.  
  
"None of your business, you burnt out has been!" Kaye replied angrily. Maji grew extremely angry and launched an attack.   
  
"Kaye, watch out!" Cye warned as he tackled her out of the way.   
  
"Hey, are you two alright?" Ryo asked as he and Sage ran over to them.  
  
"Yea Ryo were ok." Cye replied as they were getting up.  
  
"You think that this is over? Think again, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Maji said as he glared angrily at them.  
  
"Hey what's going on? What is this, where did it come from?" Sage asked as a thick blanket of fog was quickly spreading across the room.  
  
"Everyone, stay together!" Ryo said as they formed a circle with their backs to each other. With every second that passed by, the fog kept on getting thicker and thicker, making it harder to see anything. Then for some unknown reason, the fog began to slowly disappear. As the fog was disappearing, Maji was laughing.  
  
"What's so funny?" Sage asked angrily as the fog was finally gone.  
  
"If I were you, I would take a good look around. I think that you will notice that two of your friends are missing." Maji replied as he was still laughing.  
  
"Sage, he's right. Cye and Kaye are gone! Where are they?" Ryo asked angrily as he got ready to attack.   
  
"You'll get no answers from me that way." Maji replied with a smirk.  
  
"Alright Maji, tell us where they are right now!" Sage said as he glared at him.  
  
"I don't think so, if I remember right, your armors can sense each other out, am I correct? Then I would suggest that you hurry, you just might be able to save them." Maji replied as he disappeared. 


	20. chapter 20

"Aw man, what hit me? My head feels like it was hit by a two by four. Cye? Ryo? Sage, is anyone there?" Kaye asked as she slowly got up.  
  
"It looks like I'm the only one here. Wherever here is. What was that?" Kaye thought as she whirled around to try and see what she sensed.   
  
"Hello? Is anyone here? Anyone?" Kaye yelled out. A few minutes passed by and still nothing. Again, something ran past her, she turned around and still couldn't see anything.  
  
"We're here." an eerie voice replied from the shadows.  
  
"Who's we?" Kaye asked as she tried to show no fear.  
  
"We are the very creatures that will strike fear in your heart. We are the creatures that will make you beg us to stop with the pain. We are the creatures that will rip you apart and make you bleed. Now, aren't you glad that you've asked?" the voice replied as the creatures slowly came out of the shadows towards her.   
  
"What do you want? If it's a fight that you want, and then it's a fight that you're gonna get! Come on!" Kaye replied as she got into defensive position.  
  
"I'm glad that you said that, because that's exactly what we're looking for." the creature said as they kept on slowly advancing towards her.  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Where the heck am I? Kaye? Sage? Ryo, where are you?" Cye yelled out hoping that someone would answer.   
  
"I don't believe this. I have no idea of where I am, or even where the others are, or even if they're hurt or not. I know this much, I'm not going to get any answers if I'm just standing around here." Cye thought as he started to leave. Just then, something ran past him, he quickly turned around and barely spotted a tail of some kind.  
  
"What in the world?" Cye thought as he went to get a closer look. Just as he was about to see if he was right, something else ran quickly behind him.  
  
"Ok I've had it! Who's here and what do you want?" Cye yelled out.   
  
"You want to know who we are, and what we desire? We want to play, will you play with us?" a voice replied from the shadows.  
  
"Sorry, but I don't have time for any of your games. I have to find my friends, and get out of here." Cye said in annoyance.  
  
"You want to find pretty silver one? Pretty silver one is playing. Now will you play?" the creature asked curiously.  
  
"No! They couldn't mean!" Cye thought in alarm as he realized whom the creature was talking about.   
  
"You are correct in your assumption, Cye of the Torrent." Maji said as he appeared.   
  
"Maji, if those creatures hurt her, then I'll..." Cye replied angrily.  
  
"I wouldn't be worried about her, I would be more concerned about yourself. Since you're going to be in the same situation in a few minutes." Maji replied as he motioned for the creatures to attack. Just as they started their attack, Maji gave an evil grin and disappeared.   
  
The creatures started to advance slowly towards him. "This is definitely what I don't need right now." Cye thought, as he got ready to defend himself.  
  
In another part of the building, Sage and Ryo decided to split up, in order to find their friends before they ran out of time. "Where could they be? Why can't I sense them? Is there something that is blocking them from me?" Sage thought as he continued to run down the corridor.   
  
Just then a loud scream of pain echoed through the corridor. "Kaye!" Sage yelled. He quickly stopped so he could get a fix of where it was coming from.  
  
"Come on, come on where is she? I know that I heard her." Sage thought frantically.  
  
Again another scream of pain echoed through the corridor. "Looks like I'm going this way. Hang on Kaye, I'm coming." Sage thought as he ran. Sage didn't have to run very far, sounds of a fight were getting louder and louder as he came closer to finding her. Just as he turned the next corner, he saw a creature take a huge swipe at Kaye's back and then she fell to the ground.  
  
"NO!" Sage yelled in anger as the creatures turned around and faced him.   
  
"Pretty silver one is no fun any more, she can't play. How about you, will you play with us?" the creature asked as they were slowly advancing towards Sage.   
  
"You wanna play? Fine, then let's play, but I play for keeps! Thunder bolt cut!" Sage replied as he delivered his sure-kill. The creatures screamed in the pain from the light that was coming from Sage's attack. He realized that they can't stand the light and delivered his sure-kill one more time. With the second attack, the creatures dissolved into thin air. Sage then ran over Kaye to see how badly injured she was.  
  
"Kaye, hey come on and answer me would you?" Sage asked as he looked on with concern.   
  
"Sage?" Kaye asked as she was slowly coming around.  
  
"Yea it's me. Do you think that you can walk?" Sage asked.  
  
"I think so. Hey where did those creatures go?" Kaye asked as she was slowly standing up.  
  
"Don't worry about them, we have to get out of here and see if Ryo has found Cye yet." Sage replied as he tried to help her stand. As soon as she was on her feet, she took a few steps and then fell back down. Sage knelt down and grabbed onto Kaye's side and pulled her up. As soon as he got her up, he took her arm and pulled it behind his neck and held on.   
  
"Sage, this isn't going to do you any good. I'm just going to slow you down." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Kaye, I'm not going to leave you here, if that's what you're thinking. So quit being so stubborn and let's get going." Sage replied. Kaye gave him a small smile and then nodded telling him that she was ready.   
  
In a different corridor, "I'm sure that Sage has found one of them by now. Huh, what was that, was it...Cye?" Ryo thought.  
  
"Cye! Where are you? Answer me!" Ryo yelled down the corridor.   
  
"Ryo! I'm in here!" Cye yelled back.  
  
"Hang on Cye, I'm coming!" Ryo yelled as he was running.   
  
"Hurry up Ryo, I don't know how long I can hold out." Cye thought as he continued fighting.  
  
Just as Ryo finally found Cye, one of the creatures whipped its tail, sweeping Cye's feet from under him and he fell to the ground. "Cye! Hey, get away from him!" Ryo yelled angrily. The creatured turned towards Ryo and started to advance towards him.   
  
"Another one has come to play." a creature said as they continued to advance towards him.   
  
"Think again, Flare up now!" Ryo yelled as he delivered his sure-kill. A few of the creatures fled from his attack, while the rest of them went up in flames.   
  
"Hey, where do you think that you're going? Flare up now!" Ryo yelled as he delivered his sure-kill a second time.   
  
"That had better be the last of them. Cye!" Ryo thought as he ran over to him.  
  
"Ryo?" Cye said as he was trying to get up.  
  
"Hey, take it easy there." Ryo replied as he helped him up to his feet.  
  
"Ryo, we have to find Kaye. Those creatures that attacked me are the same ones that are probably attacking her too." Cye said as he tried to walk.  
  
"Don't worry Cye, I'm sure that Sage has found her already. What do you say, let's go and see if we can find them?" Ryo replied as he was helping Cye to walk. Just as they were about to leave, there was one more creature left.  
  
"You don't want to play any more? Aw, I want to play!" the creature said as he got in front of them. Ryo and Cye braced themselves, just as the creature was about to attack, it was struck down from behind.  
  
"I can't take you guys anywhere. It seems like wherever we go, you're always in trouble." a voice said from the doorway.   
  
"Sage!" Ryo replied with a grin.  
  
"Yea, who else would it be?" Sage replied with a teasing grin.  
  
"Sage, did you find Kaye? Is she all right?" Cye asked in concern.  
  
"Why don't you ask me yourself?" Kaye replied as she and Sage slowly walked over to them.  
  
"Kaye, you look like you've been to hell and back." Cye said as he looked at her.  
  
"Oh yea, look who's talking?" Kaye replied as she looked back at him.  
  
"Ok you two that's enough. Now that we found each other, the main question is now what's going to happen?" Ryo asked. As an answer to Ryo's question, an explosion blew up the wall that was behind them.  
  
"You had to ask, didn't you?" Kaye replied in annoyance.  
  
"Well done, I'm impressed in how you found your friends so quickly. I think that it's time for me to end this. Goody-bye." Maji said as he was powering up. Just as they were about to leave the nexus, Maji's attack made a direct hit, and then they vanished.  
  
"No!" Maji yelled in anger.  
  
"That blasted tiger! I knew it! It doesn't matter, I know where they've gone." Maji thought as he disappeared. 


	21. chapter 21

"What the? Rowen, Kento!" Mia yelled from outside.   
  
"Mia, what is it?" Kento asked as they ran to her.   
  
"That's not, it is they're back!" Rowen replied as they appeared. Ryo was carrying Cye and Sage was holding Kaye, both of them were barely moving.   
  
"Ryo, hurry up and lay him on the ground. They don't have much time!" Sage said as he laid Kaye down.   
  
"You're right Sage of Halo they don't have much time, and neither do you." Maji replied as he appeared before them.  
  
"Maji!" Kento replied angrily.  
  
"He must have followed us back here!" Ryo said as he glared at him.  
  
"It's time for you take your last stand. With only four of you, it should be quite easy for me. Too bad, I was actually looking forward to a challenge." Maji replied as he was powering up.  
  
"He's right, how are we going to fight him?" Ryo asked as he and the others stood in front of Cye and Kaye shielding them from Maji.   
  
"Ryo, listen." Kaye whispered.  
  
"Kaye, don't talk save your strength, you're going to need it." Ryo replied as he glanced back.  
  
"Ryo, call the Inferno." Cye whispered.  
  
"Cye, are you crazy? You don't have enough strength to lend me to call it. Besides, I don't know what kind of effect it'll have on Kaye." Ryo replied as he was starting to get angry.  
  
"Dammit Ryo, just do it. Whatever happens happens you have to defeat Maji. Otherwise he'll..." Kaye whispered before she passed out.  
  
"Well, I don't have all day. Are you going to fight me or not?" Maji asked as he began to get impatient.  
  
"No, I can't risk their lives on a chance, but I can't let Maji win either. What can I do, please Ancient help me." Ryo thought as he struggled with his decision.   
  
"Ryo..." Cye whispered as he finally passed out.   
  
As soon as Ryo heard Cye's voice, his eyes snapped open; he knew what he had to do. "Rowen, Kento I need the two of you to stay back and watch over Cye and Kaye. Sage you're with me. I'm gonna need you to watch my back, I'm going to call upon the Inferno." Ryo said.  
  
"Ryo, are you sure that's what you want to do?" Sage asked as he glanced over at him.  
  
"It's the only thing that I can do." Ryo replied as he and Sage started towards Maji.   
  
"It's about time, but only two of you are going to fight me? I thought that I would be fighting all four of you. Oh well it doesn't matter, all of you will die anyway." Maji said, as he got ready to fight.  
  
"You're wrong Maji, you won't be fighting two of us. You'll be fighting all of us! Armor of Inferno!" Ryo yelled as he called upon it.   
  
"What it's not possible! How can he form the Inferno?" Maji thought as he began to slowly back away.  
  
"Rage of Inferno!" Ryo yelled as he delivered his sure-kill hitting Maji directly making him totally disappear for good.   
  
"It worked, it actually worked! Ryo, you did it!" Rowen said as Ryo called off the armor.   
  
"Cye, Kaye? Sage get over here! They're not breathing!" Kento said in alarm. Sage ran over and started to heal them.  
  
"Don't you two dare leave us! Come on, you have to fight!" Mia thought in a panic. A loud gasp came from both Cye and Kaye as they began to slowly come around.  
  
"Hey, are you two all right?" Rowen asked in concern.  
  
"Is it over?" Kaye asked quietly.  
  
"Yea it's over, it's finally over." Rowen replied with a small smile.   
  
"Good. Because I for one, don't what to ever go through something like that ever again." Cye said quietly.  
  
A few days later, after everyone was pretty much healed from their ordeal, except for Cye and Kaye who were still sore but over all fine. "Hey Cye, have you seen where Kento went to?" Kaye asked as she was helping him in the kitchen.  
  
"Actually now that I think about it, I haven't seen Ryo or Sage around either. I wonder where..?" Cye replied.  
  
Just before Kaye could ask another question, there was yelling that was coming from out back. "Cye and Kaye almost died because you two couldn't protect them!" Kento yelled angrily.  
  
"Kento what did you expect us to do? We were lucky that we found them at all!" Ryo replied angrily.  
  
"That's no excuse Ryo! You and Sage should of protected them...I should have protected them." Kento said as a mix of guilt and anger shown in his eyes.  
  
"That's enough Kento!" Sage replied angrily.  
  
"No it's not Sage! You two don't seem to understand, they could of died!" Kento yelled as a tear was forming in the corner of his eyes.  
  
"But we didn't die Kento, we're right here. Everything is ok, please don't fight any more." Kaye said as she and Cye decided to try and break up the fight.  
  
"Kento they did the best that they could." Cye replied as he and Kaye walked to either side of him.  
  
"I'm sorry Cye, I shouldn't have made you make that promise to watch over Kaye if we ever got separated. Maybe if I wouldn't have gotten my armor back, then I would have prevented..." Kento said as he looked down.  
  
Cye and Kaye looked at each other in concern as they realized what he was actually doing. "Kento it's no one's fault. Not Ryo's, not Sage's, and definitely not yours. Kento, you have to realize that. Look into your heart and understand what I'm saying." Kaye replied quietly.  
  
"Kento, when I came back, and told you what happened at the bridge. You were the one that told me everything was all right. That I shouldn't blame myself, because I did everything that I could. Now what do I hear? I hear the exact opposite of what you told me. Why can't you get it through your thick head?" Rowen asked sternly.  
  
"That's completely different Rowen." Kento replied as he lifted his head and looked at him.  
  
"How Kento? How is the time with the bridge different from the last battle with those creatures and Maji?" Kaye asked.  
  
"Because, I wasn't there, I let you both down! I should have been there, if I was there then what happened might have not taken place." Kento replied as he faced her.  
  
"Dammit Kento, I don't know who's more on the guilt trips you or Ryo? Should have, and if's that's all you've been saying ever since this stupid fight started. You didn't let us down! If you didn't get your armor back, how do you think that I would have felt? How do you think that they would have felt? Did that ever cross your mind? Dammit!" Kaye said as she ran off.   
  
"Kento you big dummy!" Cye said as he punched him in the arm.  
  
"Cye what was that for?" Kento asked as he rubbed his arm.  
  
"Haven't you heard a single word that we've been saying?" Cye asked as he stared at him.  
  
"Of course I heard what you've been saying." Kento replied.  
  
"Then why are you still standing around here for? Go after her." Rowen said.  
  
"Before I do, Ryo, Sage I'm sorry. I guess that I..." Kento said as he looked over at them.  
  
"No harm done Kento, it's already forgotten. Besides Rowen's right for once, if you don't go after her, then you're going to be kicking yourself even more." Ryo replied with a smirk.  
  
Kento nodded and took off after her. "Ryo what was all of that about? What do you mean that I was right for once? Just because I'm the brains of the group, doesn't mean that I don't know anything about people's feelings." Rowen asked with a mock hurt expression.  
  
"Relax Rowen, Ryo didn't mean anything by it. It's just that he was kinda surprised that you're a romantic." Sage replied with a smirk.  
  
"Don't be, there's a lot more to a person that meets the eye, and you'll be wise to remember that." Rowen said as he went inside. The others looked at each other in confusion, then they shook their heads and followed him inside.  
  
Kaye ran as far as she could, and then she fell to the ground on her hands and knees. "What was I possibly thinking? Why did I say those things?" Kaye asked as she was drying her tears.   
  
"Rowen's right, I do have a thick head." Kento replied with a smile as he caught up to her and extended his hand for her to grab.  
  
"Kento." Kaye replied as she reached for his hand.  
  
"I understand now what you and the others were saying. It's just that, well I tend to listen more to my heart than my head. Maybe I should change, so maybe I should listen more to my head and less to my heart." Kento said as he pulled her up.  
  
"Don't you dare!" Kaye replied sternly.  
  
"I'm kidding. Relax ok." Kento said as he was laughing.  
  
"Ok I'll relax, but please don't ever joke about something like that ever again." Kaye replied as she pulled herself closer to him.  
  
"I promise, now what do you say that we get back, I'm sure that they're waiting for us." Kento said with a smile.  
  
"Um no I don't think so, let's make them wait a bit longer." Kaye replied as she gave a mischievous grin.  
  
"What are you scheming?" Kento asked.  
  
"Scheming, me? Why Kento I would never." Kaye replied with a grin as they kissed under the setting sun.  
  
From inside the mansion, "Rowen what were you doing just now?" Mia asked as she spotted the camera that he was holding.  
  
"It's nothing Mia, let's just say that someone out there just paid me her favor." Rowen replied with a smirk. Mia just shook her head and left him by the window.   
  
Rowen turned around and stared out the window again, "Now Kaye, we're even." Rowen thought as he grinned. 


End file.
